Save Me From The Dark
by Anne the Fire
Summary: Post Season 3B. After Emma brought Marion back Regina lost all hope of finding a happy ending of her own. To protect the people she loves from the Evil Queen she's scared of becoming again she takes her fate into her own hands and puts herself in a sleeping curse. Will anyone be able to save her? SwanQueen. TRIGGER WARNING: Emotional and physical abuse.
1. Falling into Darkness

**Save Me From The Dark**

**Chapter One: Falling into Darkness**

**A/N: So this is my first Once Upon A Time fic and I am really excited about it. I have to say that I only recently jumped on the SwanQueen ship but since I did it's become somewhat of an obsession of mine and this idea has been rolling around in my head for a while now so I hope you all enjoy it. I also feel it's important to let you know that it has been a while since I have written anything so I am a little rusty, and as I don't have a beta all mistakes are my own. **

**Disclaimer: This is the only time I'll be putting this in here but just so everyone knows I do not own any of the characters in OUAT I just want to play with them for a bit.**

Regina walked hand in hand with Robin Hood and little Roland towards Granny's diner. They had just gotten ice cream together and for the first time in a long time, she felt happy and was smiling a genuine smile. Robin stopped them just outside giving her a lingering kiss that made her smile even more before they followed Roland up the steps to the diner.

She knew half the town was in there celebrating Emma and Hook's safe return from the past as well as Zelena's defeat and for once she was looking forward in just enjoying the celebration with everyone else. She wasn't the Evil Queen today; today she was one of the heroes. She had used light magic to stop her sister, surprising everyone except for Henry perhaps and life was pretty good at the moment. For the first time she didn't feel like she was the villain in this story.

Little did she know that everything was about to come crashing down around her again.

**O O O **

"She's a monster!"

Marion practically shouted. At that Regina moved towards her like she wanted to strike her but stopped herself. Barely.

"No she's…." Emma trailed off as Regina turned and walked away from them all without a backwards glance.

"Regina wait," she started to follow her but Hook was suddenly pulling her to a stop. "Let her go love, nothing good has ever come from pushing that woman, she needs space."

David agreed with hook but decided to voice his own concerns "It's what she does in that space that worries me."

Henry appeared more worried than all of them looked to his mother for comfort "You don't think she'll turn evil again do you? She can't, she's come too far." Henry's words snapped something inside of Emma and brought the reality of what just happened back into focus and she looked at all of the people around her in a new way. They all looked worried but she couldn't figure out if that worry was for Regina herself or for what she might do to them over this and the thought made her cringe inside. How was Regina supposed to believe that she wasn't a monster if that's what everyone around her still saw, even Henry had just assumed that she might turn evil again over this, like it was a switch that one could just flip on and off at will.

"Henry, go home with David and Mary Margaret, I'm going after her." It was Snow this time that attempted to stop her from leaving. "I think that they are right Emma, I think you need to let her be for a while." Emma turned to them and studied them all for a minute. "That's exactly why I need to go after her, maybe because no one has ever cared enough about her before to go after her when something bad has happened to her, to try and talk to her and let her know that there are people who care about her." They all appeared a little shocked at Emma's outburst and at the implications behind it but before they could even begin to react, Emma had turned and started off in the direction that Regina had gone.

**O O O **

When Regina entered her vault, she didn't even know why she had come here. It was her safe haven; it was where her magical items were, where her books were and where she could shut herself away from the world.

This hurt. All of it just hurt. How had her life gone from being good for once to having a happy ending taken away from her again in a matter of minutes? It's not that she was in love with Robin, she wasn't, at least not yet but she did think she could grow to love him and she cared about Roland as well. It was the first time since Daniel had died that she opened herself up to the possibility of finding happiness again, of loving and being loved in return again, and then Emma Swan with her time traveling blunders took that possibility away just like her mother had stolen everything that mattered from her once before.

What hurt most of all was that it was Emma that had done this, intentionally or not? She and Emma had been doing well; they had stopped arguing for the most part anyway. They had found a way to put the past behind them, mostly, for Henry's sake, and they even worked well together and seemed to understand each other more than anyone else in this town could. She thought they had almost been on their way to being _friends _even, not that she would ever admit that aloud, but now she had hurt her with her recklessness, without thinking of the consequences of her actions. She was just like her mother Snow White, never considering the consequences until it was too late.

She started going through the things in her vault as she was thinking about everything that had happened, not even knowing what it was she was looking for until she came across a potion that she remembered making not too long ago during the forgotten year in the enchanted forest.

Staring down at the vial in her hand she voiced the only thing that kept coming to mind in that moment "villains don't get happy endings." She laughed bitterly as she made that statement and it seemed to echo in the room until she was engulfed in utter silence once more. Even when she wasn't the villain, she was, she would always be seen as the Evil Queen, the villain, no matter what she had done to change herself.

It wasn't always easy. Her heart was so dyed in darkness that doing the right thing and the good thing didn't come easy to her anymore, but she was trying, not only for Henry but for herself as well, but she didn't believe that there would ever be a time when it was easy. When Marion had called her a monster earlier, her first instinct had been to rip out her heart and show her what a monster really looked like. She had even started to reach towards her, but she stopped herself, because she wasn't that person any more. She didn't want to be the Evil Queen anymore. She didn't want Henry or Emma to see her like that. So she had walked away instead, knowing they would likely all think of her as a monster anyway.

Staring at the potion in her hands she thought of all the things she would miss and would never have because she was always destined to be the villain in the story, and really who could ever truly love the Evil Queen. As she sat there knowing in her heart that they would always see her that way, she came to a decision that would make sure that she never gave in to her dark side, and she would make sure that the only person that she would hurt because of this was herself. She was afraid that if she didn't do something to stop herself the darkness that stained her soul would win and she would lose the fight to be 'good' and would end up hurting the only people that mattered to her. She would never want Henry to see her the way she was before.

Steeling herself for what she was about to do she heard the sound of footsteps coming into her vault. There was only one person who would be brave enough or stupid enough to follow her right now and she didn't even have to look to know who it was.

"What do I have to get you to do to leave me alone Swan? Go away!" She called over her shoulder harshly without turning to face Emma. She heard Emma freeze and the room was quiet and for a moment Regina thought she might actually do as she asked and leave but it seems luck was never on her side as Emma replied. " I came to check on you. " Regina snorted bitterly at that, "I can promise you I'm not here cooking up some evil plan to hurt you or Marion, I just want to be left alone, so you can go now."

Regina still hadn't looked at her and Emma knew that she didn't want to turn around because she didn't want Emma to see her in a vulnerable state, but even knowing this she couldn't make herself walk out that door without at least trying to talk to her. "You don't have to talk just listen. I'm sorry I hurt you Regina, that was never my intention and I know that in this case my intentions don't matter because you still got hurt." Regina scoffed at that but didn't offer anything more so Emma continued. "I want you to know that I'm here for you though, and I know that you can have a happy ending you just have to fight for it, and if you won't then I will. Henry brought me back here to bring back all the happy endings and that includes yours, so my job is not finished yet. And I know it's not going to be easy and it's complicated but I also want you to know that I'm here for you. I want to help you. I like to think of you as my friend even though you probably don't see it that way."

Regina tilted her head at that because hadn't she just been thinking something similar but she still refused to turn and face Emma as she rambled on "You and I are friends and I want you to keep being my friend because no one else in this town really understands me they don't know what it feels like to be rejected and misunderstood, not the way I do and not the way you do, but that makes us I don't know unique, or special even and it means I understand you better than anyone else and I know how much this must have hurt you, and I'm sorry for that, but you're not alone. You have people that care for you and will help you through it."

Regina sat silent still turned away from her for a long time and Emma wasn't sure what to do. She had come here to talk to her and she had said what she wanted to say and she meant every word of it. She would help Regina through this, and would help her find her happy ending but now Regina wouldn't even look at her still and this silence was becoming oppressive.

Regina finally turned to look at her and the look of anguish on her face nearly broke Emma. She looked as though the world was falling down around her. She cleared her throat and looked like she was trying to find the right words to fill the silence. As she turned more fully toward her Emma could see she was holding what looked like a really long needle that she pulled out of some potion bottle before setting it away. Regina looked at her then and she didn't even try and stop the tears flowing down her cheeks and to Emma she looked more broken and fragile than she had ever seen this woman before. Regina was never supposed to look this broken and it hurt knowing that she had caused this, she was always the strong one, who never gave up even if it meant years of plotting revenge and making plans and now she just looked defeated before she had even begun to fight.

Finally seeming to get her bearings and regain some semblance of her usual composure and meeting Emma's eyes she rasped, "That's all well and good dear but I've already made a decision about my fate. I want you to take good care of Henry and tell him that I love him but I finally realized what all the stories in his book have tried to point out, that villains don't get happy endings and I will always be the villain in this story" Before Emma realized what she was saying or could process what those words meant Regina pricked her finger on the needle she was holding and almost immediately began to drop. Emma was barely able to catch her before she hit the floor. Emma cradled her to her chest as she sunk to the floor holding her and looked into those fathomless brown eyes that were slowly closing and grabbed her face wiping the tear tracks from her eyes "Regina, Regina, what did you just do? What's going on?"

As her eyelids started to close she looked up into the face of the crying savior who cradled her so gently and she knew that Emma really did want to help her she experienced a moment of regret that maybe this wasn't the right decision but it was too late for second thoughts so she breathed deep one last time and locked eyes with her as her strength started to fade and she whispered the only two words that she could think of on how Emma could help her now. "Save me" and that was the last thing she remembered before she closed her eyes and was engulfed in the darkness.

"REGINA, REGINA" Emma called her name over and over again while still cradling her still form. She was crying freely now and she didn't know what to do or how to help Regina. The only time she had seen anything like this before was when Henry fell under the sleeping curse. She knew this was the same thing. She didn't know how she knew but she could feel it. Regina was still there, still alive in her arms but she had just cursed herself. There was a moment right after she had done it that she appeared to regret it and with her last breath asked Emma to save her. The problem was Emma didn't know how to save her. "Why, why would you do this?" She sobbed. "You're not the villain anymore, so why would you do this." Emma knew she would get no answers from the woman she still cradled gently in her arms but still she continued to beg the unconscious woman for answers she knew wouldn't come as she gently stroked the tears that had tracked down Regina's cheeks.

After what seemed like hours of her just holding Regina on the floor of her vault her phone started ringing. She ignored it the first two times not wanting to speak to anyone, especially if it was Henry. Oh god what was she supposed to tell him about his mother. After the third ring went to voicemail and her phone started ringing again she knew whoever was calling wasn't going to give up so she reached down to her pocket to fish out her phone while trying not to jostle Regina and still keeping a firm hold on the brunette. Looking at the caller id it was her mother. They were probably trying to make sure Regina hadn't fried her to a crisp, so she took a moment to compose herself and tried to sound as normal as possible as she answered, "Hello" Snow's worried tone immediately came over the line, "Oh Emma we have been so worried about you, why haven't you been answering your phone?"

The way her mother asked the question she knew that she was right in her assumption that they were afraid that Regina had hurt her or had done something terrible to her and for some reason that really pissed her off at the moment. "I'm fine mom, I'm just sitting here with Regina, and we were talking." It wasn't exactly a lie they had been talking before Regina decided to remove herself from the conversation in a way that Emma couldn't reply too. Damn that woman for always wanting to get the last word.

Snow didn't sound convinced at that but didn't call her out on it either. "Oh well ok, we just wanted to check on you and make sure everything was ok. How long do you think you guys will be talking?" She didn't know what to say to that. She couldn't just leave Regina here, she had to make her more comfortable and she didn't want to leave her alone. She would have to find a way to fix this but she didn't want Henry freaking out until she was able to talk to him in person either. Sounding exasperated, she finally answered "look I'm not sure, I'm probably going to be gone all night, put Henry to bed for me and tell him I will come get him in the morning, and I will see you all tomorrow." She disconnected the call before Snow could ask anything more and turned her phone off.

She slowly rose to her feet and picked Regina up and carried her out of the vault and to her car. After making sure the brunette was safe and strapped in she drove them back to the mansion and carried Regina up to her room before settling the brunette on the bed.

She pulled a chair up by the bed and plopped down into it before reaching for Regina's hand. It was cold to the touch and Emma couldn't help but be afraid of what that might mean. She knew Regina was still alive because she could feel her magic just under the surface where she was holding her hand. She would have to tell Henry what happened in the morning and she would need to talk to Gold and try and get some answers but for right now she refused to leave the brunette just lying there all alone so she stayed there until she fell asleep in the chair never once letting go of the hand she was holding.

**O O O**

**A/N: Well this is the first chapter. I pretty much have this story planned out in my head but I don't know how often I will get the chance to update it. I'm working crazy hours and working a lot of overtime so it doesn't leave a whole lot of time for writing but I will do my best to update as frequently as possible. Please let me know if you guys like it or think it's worth continuing, it really motivates me to write faster if I know someone is looking forward to it. Hope you all enjoyed it.**


	2. Alone in the Dark

**Chapter 2: Alone in the Dark**

**A/N: TRIGGER WARNING there are some scenes describing physical abuse ahead so I'm warning you now. Hope you all enjoy the second chapter. **

Emma found herself in a hallway covered in mirrors. She didn't know where she was or how she had gotten there but the place gave her the creeps. It was awful. Everything was cold and since everything was covered in mirrors the only thing she could see was her own image reflected back at her all alone for as far as she could see.

It was dark and decidedly unwelcoming to say the least. She tried to remember what had happened or how she had gotten there but nothing came to mind. The last thing she remembered was "oh god Regina." She had been with Regina at the mansion after Regina had put herself under a sleeping curse.

Emma had to find a way out of here and soon. She had to tell Henry what had happened, which was not exactly on her list of fun things to do and then she had to find a way to help Regina. She couldn't be stuck in this, whatever this place was.

Glancing in both directions they looked the same. She was trapped in an endless dark hallway of mirrors with no discernable difference between directions. "Guess I'll go right then." She muttered to herself before beginning the long trek down the hall, she didn't know how long she continued in that direction but after what felt like hours to Emma but was probably more like twenty minutes the hallway started to change and the mirrors looked more like movie screens flashing random images it seemed in a delirious procession.

As she continued down the hall looking at some of the images flashing before her she thought she could see some familiar things but it was gone so quickly and replaced by another image she couldn't quite grasp what it was.

The hall eventually widened out into a large circular room with one huge mirror in front of a chair that was facing it that looked more like a movie screen than the others. As she approached the larger mirror she realized that that was exactly what it was and instead of flashing images quickly it looked like it was playing a movie, she also realized that this one had surround sound as well it seemed and the people in it seemed familiar to her somehow but she couldn't figure out quite how she knew them, so Emma stopped to watch the scene that played out in front of her.

_A young girl, probably no older than nine or ten years old raced from a stable towards a house. She looked frantic with the need to get to the house as soon as possible. As she entered the house and closed the door quietly behind her a voice from behind stopped her cold. "Where have you been? Do you have any idea what time it is? You missed tea time." The girl looked frozen in fear at the voice behind her but even so she held her head high and turned to address the speaker. "I'm sorry mother. I was in the meadow and I fell asleep. I didn't mean to be late." _

_The woman that was apparently the child's mother sneered at her. "I don't want any of your excuses you insolent child. You know the punishment for disobeying me." At this the spark of fear in the young girls eyes was unmistakable and she was nearly trembling before she began pleading, "please mother, I won't do it again, I'll be more mindful, I'll be a good girl I promise." _

_The woman whose face remained hidden was unmoved by her daughters pleas as she directed a servant to grab the girl. She was led into a side room that had nothing but a low table with a vertical bar at one end. The girl was led directly to it and made to bend over the table as the servant tied her hands to the pole at the other end. "Ten strokes," the woman ordered without any hesitation. _

_The girl's breath hitched at the number and she started weeping silently. The servant returned with a long piece of wood and began caning the girl along her buttocks and the back of her thighs. Each time the switch landed she would cry out in pain and the tears would fall more freely. _

_When the last stroke of the cane was delivered she was untied from the table and made to stand in front of her mother. The woman stared down at the girl looking disgusted at the tears on her face. "Go and clean yourself up, you look pathetic. Then you will join your father and I for supper directly. I will not tolerate this from you again Regina do you understand me?" "Yes mother." The girl replied before leaving towards her room. _

At the sound of the name Emma gasped audibly at realizing who the girl and her mother were. As Emma reeled with the knowledge of what she had just seen she heard a broken sob come from the chair in front of her and raced around to the front to see who had made it.

Emma froze upon seeing Regina, her Regina sitting in the chair that was really more like a throne with tears streaming down her face as she watched the screen before her. As Emma glanced to the other screens that were quickly flashing images she was now able to recognize what she had missed before and Regina was featured in every one of them. These were her memories.

Emma approached Regina cautiously not wanting to startle her. She slowly came to stand close to her but Regina still hadn't registered her presence. "Regina" Emma softly called out to her but still received no acknowledgement from the brunette. As she reached out to touch her to get her attention, her hand ghosted right through Regina as though she were never there at all.

Emma stared dumbfounded at her own hand, not knowing what else to do and trying not to freak out. After that Emma tried repeatedly to touch her and call her name but no matter what she did there was no response from Regina at all.

**O O O**

Emma awoke with a startled gasp and nearly fell out of the chair she had fallen asleep in. "What the hell was that?" She questioned herself before taking in the situation around her. She was still sitting by Regina's side holding her hand and it was nearly morning.

She had no idea if what she just experienced was real or not but she believed it was. There was no way she could dream up something that detailed and real on her own. If it _was_ real which she believed it was, that meant that Regina was trapped in that place with all of those awful memories all around her.

Looking down at the brunette she saw a single tear fall from her eye as though even under a sleeping curse her sorrow was too much to bear. Emma wiped the tear from her face before realizing that she herself was crying as well. "I have to get you out of there," she sobbed. "I'll find a way to fix this I promise and I won't leave you alone in this." Emma promised.

She had to find a way to fix this. She needed to talk to someone who understood magic and curses and since Regina was out that meant she would have to talk to Gold. Another conversation she was not looking forward to.

Her next course of action decided she grasped Regina's hand once more and promised to return soon. She left the mansion and returned to the vault before carefully grabbing the needle Regina had pricked herself with and wrapping it safely to take with her. Next stop Gold's shop and then to talk to Henry.

Just as Gold opened his shop for the day he was confronted with a furious Emma Swan barging through his door. "I need to talk to you." Emma said after slamming the door behind her. "To what do I owe the pleasure of this early morning visit?" He replied looking unfazed by the anger the Savior was projecting.

Pulling the carefully wrapped needle from her pocket and shoving it towards him she asked, "I need to know what the hell kind of magic this is." Not daring to reach for the object he studied it silently for a few moments before answering, "It's a sleeping curse dearie, and a powerful one at that. Now where did you get something like that?" He asked as he grinned evilly.

"That's none of your business, now how do I break it." Emma asked. Gold actually laughed at that "You already know the answer to that Miss Swan. The only thing that can break a sleeping curse this powerful is true love's kiss."

Truthfully Emma hadn't expected him to answer any differently but hearing him say it just confirmed what she already knew. To wake Regina up she would have to find her happy ending. She deliberated silently with herself for a few minutes about whether she should share what happened this morning with her dream and the hall of mirrors, before concluding that she didn't really have much of a choice.

Turning to Gold she grudgingly asked her next question. "Regina cursed herself with this last night." She started as Gold looked at her with what might have been a flicker of shock. "I took her home and I stayed by her side last night. I had this dream that I was in a hallway of mirrors and when I got to the end, there was a huge room of them playing what looked like scenes from a movie. Regina was in a chair in front watching them but when I tried to touch her I passed right through her like a ghost. She couldn't hear me either."

Not sure if she should reveal the next part or not she hesitated but decided that she needed the imps help. "I..I think the scenes that were playing were her memories." A look of genuine surprise crossed his features. "What makes you think that, and how can you be sure it wasn't just a dream" he asked.

"It was very elaborate. I don't think it's something I could have made up on my own and the memory I watched was of her and Cora when she was young." Emma replied. Gold frowned at this and studied her intensely for a few moments. "That shouldn't be possible," he stated.

As Emma started to refute his statement he held up a hand to stop her as he continued. "I have no doubt that what you saw was real," he said "but it shouldn't be possible for you to have seen it at all. Sleeping curses as powerful as this one trap the victim in their own bodies with nothing but their own regrets and worst memories, in a nether realm but you should not have been able to enter that place." He stated matter of factly.

Emma scowled at what he just confirmed. "Then how did I, and how can I do it again and make it so she can see me and hear me?" Gold continued to observe her. "I have no idea. It's a mystery, but an intriguing one. I'll tell you what, dearie, I'll look into a way for you to be able to communicate with her while you're there, I'll even do this one for free because it's an anomaly that I find interesting."

Emma eyed him suspiciously, she had been around here long enough to know that the Dark One never gave away anything for free and that magic always comes with a price but really what choice did she have. She had no one else to ask for help with this and she refused to leave Regina alone in that awful place. If she couldn't find a way to wake her up she could at least make sure she didn't have to go through it alone, and she would pay whatever price she needed to in order to do that.

In that moment she decided, "Deal, how do I get back there though?"

"Well that dearie is the question now isn't it and that part is up to you to figure out. I'll call you when I've got my end of the bargain ready." With that Gold bid her good day and she left the shop.

Now all she had to do was tell Henry which was going to be a lot easier said than done.

**O O O**

As Emma made her way from Gold's shop to the apartment she tried and failed to think of a way to tell Henry what happened that wouldn't crush him. How the hell was she supposed to tell him that his mother might never wake up again unless Emma could find her happy ending.

Sighing as she reached the apartment she braced herself for what she was about to do. As she entered she noticed Henry was already awake and at the kitchen island working on something but the moment she arrived he rushed to her like he couldn't wait to talk to her.

Emma sighed and knew right away that this conversation was going to be hard for the both of them. "Hey kid, come sit over her and let's talk ok," she stated as she led him back to the kitchen.

Before she could begin Snow and David made their way into the kitchen as well with concerned looks on their faces. They must have heard her come in. "Emma, honey I'm so glad you're okay, we were getting worried. How's Regina?" Snow asked.

Emma looked at the three faces around her and made the decision to just tell them all at once what was going on but before she could begin she saw what Henry had been working on.

"What's this?" She asked.

Henry smiled at her and pushed it closer to her so she could see inside. "I'm making a break up basket for Mom. I have some movies and chocolate and a bottle of wine. I know it's not much but I thought maybe I could bring it to her and spend some time with her to make her feel better about the whole Robin thing."

As Emma heard what their son was trying to do for his mother, she was so proud of how thoughtful he was but at the same time this made what she had to tell him infinitely harder all of a sudden and a tear slipped unbidden from her eye before she could wipe it away.

"What's wrong Ma? You don't think it's a good idea?" Henry asked looking dejected at her reaction to his gift.

Emma cleared her throat and tried to reign in her emotions in order to get through what she had to do now. "It's not that Henry, I think it's a beautiful gesture and very thoughtful of you…but the thing is," she paused willing herself to continue. "Last night when I went to talk to Regina, I found her and we did talk a little bit but then…." Emma froze not sure how to continue.

Henry's face fell at her continued silence, already sensing something was really wrong. "Whatever it is Ma you can tell me" he encouraged her.

Emma took a moment more to breathe before continuing and closing her eyes hoping it might be easier to get the words out if she wasn't looking at the three people waiting for her to speak. "I talked to her for a bit, but when I was done she… she told me to tell you that she loves you, and then she…she pricked her finger and put herself into a sleeping curse."

She heard the gasps of astonishment from her parents as Henry shouted "WHAT" before standing and knocking over the stool he had been sitting on.

Emma opened her eyes to see the look of confusion and hurt on Henry's face as well as the dual looks of shock her parents wore. "I'm sorry Henry. I didn't realize what she was doing until it was too late. I caught her as she fell but there was nothing else I could do. I took her home and stayed with her, but I went to Gold this morning and he confirmed that it was definitely a sleeping curse."

As she saw Henry trying to hold back the tears in his eyes her own began to fall and she immediately pulled him into a strong embrace. "Why would she do that?" Henry sobbed into her shoulder no longer able to keep the tears at bay.

"I don't know Henry, I really don't. She told me she finally realized what your book has always pointed out, that villains don't get happy endings and that was it."

"But Mom isn't a villain anymore." Henry stated with such conviction that Emma was sure there was no doubt about that statement in his mind.

Pulling from the embrace to look him in the eyes as she spoke she told him, "I know your Mom isn't a villain. I'm _going_ to fix this. I don't know how yet but I promise you I won't give up until I find a way."

"I want to help. Mom needs my help too. Maybe I can kiss her and wake her up like you did for me." Henry stated, his eyes holding a glimmer of hope that he would be able to break this curse.

Emma gave him a pained smile at that knowing that Gold had implied that that might not be enough this time due to the strength of this curse but also knowing that she had to let him try. "I think that's a great idea. I need you to go and get your things and can you pack a bag for me too Henry? I don't want to leave your mom alone, so you and I are going to stay there until we get this figured out."

Henry immediately rushed to obey, leaving her alone with her parents who still had yet to say anything.

Snow was the first to speak, "Emma honey, why didn't you say anything last night when I talked to you?"

"I didn't know how. I was still in shock and I wanted to tell Henry in person. What else was I supposed to do?"

Snow frowned at that and looked at David appearing to be having some silent conversation that couples often do. "Emma I'm not sure Henry kissing her will work and if it doesn't then I…I'm not entirely sure we should wake her up."

Emma's gaped at what Snow just said. There was no way she heard that correctly. "What do you mean we shouldn't wake her up? I can't just leave her there. Have you lost your mind? I can't believe you would even suggest letting her stay like that."

Snow flinched at Emma's harsh tone but continued with what she had to say. "I know that that might seem harsh to you, but the last time Regina perceived that her happy ending was taken from her she went on a rampage. She tried to kill us so many times and she murdered a lot of people in pursuit of her revenge. This is a little bit of a different situation but the circumstances are very similar. She thinks you took her chance at a happy ending and there is no telling what she might do if you wake her up."

Emma stared at her parents incredulously. She thought that her parents and Regina had been getting along much better since their return to Storybrooke. She helped protect their new baby from Zelena and had even saved David's life after they cast the second curse to return here. She almost couldn't believe what she was hearing right now.

Her face mottled with anger Emma tried very hard to calm herself "She is not the Evil Queen anymore," Emma spoke through clenched teeth. "It's been over 30 years since then and she has saved our lives more times than I can count since then. She helped save your newborn son from the wicked witch yesterday for fucks sake. Not to mention if she wanted to go on a rampage as the Evil Queen and get revenge she would have just done that instead of cursing herself. She's changed. She's not that person anymore and I _will not _leave her there alone."

Snow and David looked like they were about to argue with her about her statement but before they could she held up her had to silence their protests. "No, we're done here. This is not up for discussion. Henry and I will be at the mansion until we find a way to help Regina."

Turning to the stairs she called to Henry, "hey kid, you packed up yet? We need to get out of here and get started on saving your mom."

Henry appeared carrying his bag of stuff and a suitcase, "I'm ready Ma, let's go."

Emma grabbed the suitcase from Henry and walked out the door with him without even a backwards glance at her parents. It was time to save Regina.

**O O O **

**A/N: Hope you guys are enjoying this so far. Let me know what you think. I probably won't be able to update again until early next week but I wanted to get this out before the weekend. Happy New Year's everyone. **


	3. I Will Follow You Into the Dark

**Save Me From The Dark**

**Chapter 3: I Will Follow You Into the Dark**

**A/N: Thank you to everyone who favorited and followed and took the time to review. It means so much to me. Hope you all enjoy the third chapter. Scenes in **_**italics**_** are memories.**

**TRIGGER WARNING: There are some more scenes depicting physical abuse of a child. Consider yourself warned. **

**O O O**

The drive back to the mansion seemed to be over too quickly and take too long all at the same time. The air between Emma and Henry was wrought with a nervous tension that kept the two in place even as they pulled into the driveway, neither one of them moving to get out of the vehicle.

They sat there staring at the door without moving until Henry decided to break the silence that had fallen upon them. "Come on Ma, let's go save my Mom."

At Henry's words Emma snapped out of her thoughts and turned to regard Henry. She didn't want him to get his hopes too high in case this didn't work but at the same time she was hoping with everything that she had that it would. "Henry, you know that this might not work right? I mean you kissing your mom might not be enough to break the curse right?" She asked while studying his reaction to her words.

Henry looked back and forth between his mother and the door. "I have to try. I love my mom, and I know you said that might not be enough for this curse or something, but I do love her and I need her to know that I at least tried for when she wakes up" he said as his head bowed down to stare at his hands in his lap.

Emma's eyes welled with tears at Henry's words. "I know you love your mom, and she knows it too. Even if this doesn't work it doesn't mean that you don't love her and she'll know that. If it doesn't work we'll just have to find another way. I won't give up kid." She tried to smile at him reassuringly but it came out forced and quickly faded as they returned their eyes to the door.

Not wanting to waste any more time Henry moved to get out of the car and grabbed his things as Emma followed him to the door. Taking a moment to compose herself Emma entered first and she and Henry slowly made their way up the stairs and into Regina's bedroom.

Regina looked the same as she did when Emma had left hours ago to go get Henry and talk to Gold. She only appeared to be sleeping and if you didn't know what to look for almost appeared peaceful, but Emma knew what torment she was enduring right now and could see the lines of strain around her eyes that thankfully were no longer shedding tears at least.

Henry moved to the side of the bed and took Regina's hand in his own as he looked at her. His thumb gently rubbed circles on the back of his mother's hand as he leaned over her. "I love you Mom, please come back." Henry whispered as he pressed his lips to her forehead in a gentle kiss.

Emma watched the whole thing with her fingers crossed hoping to see the burst of magic that came with breaking a curse with true loves kiss but it didn't come. Henry not seeing the magic either tried again, this time letting his lips rest on her for longer and silently pleading for it to work. Nothing happened.

Henry looked back to Emma as the tears started to well in his eyes and before they began to fall Emma was quick to pull him into an embrace. "I do love my Mom, Emma," he cried. Emma tightened her hold on him rubbing circles on his back to try and soothe him as best she could.

"I know you do, kid. I know you do." Emma stated as her own tears began threatening to fall. "Henry, remember what I said. We are still going to save your mom. We'll just have to work a little bit harder to do it ok?" She asked pulling away from him to look him in the eyes so that he could see the determination written on her face.

Henry nodded and began wiping the tears from his face and he tried to regain control over his emotions. Turning to face Regina once more Henry looked at her solemnly and told her, "don't worry Mom, Emma and I will wake you up. We'll call it Operation Rise and Shine and it's priority number one."

Despite the situation they were in Emma couldn't help but smile a little bit at their son. He always had some operation going on and he never ever gave up until the operation was complete. "Hey kid, why don't you go grab the suitcase from the car and bring it in for me. You guys have a guestroom around here right?" Henry nodded and raced off to get her things leaving her alone in the room with Regina.

Emma moved to take her hand just as their son had done only moments ago. "He's right you know, we are going to wake you up. I won't give up until Operation Rise and Shine is a success." Emma whispered to her before squeezing her hand and turning to leave the room to discuss their new mission with Henry.

**O O O**

After Emma and Henry had eaten they had spent hours in Regina's study looking for books that had any information that could help them.

Not all of the books were related to magic in fact only a handful that they had found so far had been. Even so they had spent most of their time combing through the magic related books looking at anything to do with curses. It was made more difficult by the fact that most of them were written in some weird language that neither Henry nor Emma could read but they plowed on trying to get through what they could understand, but they had had no luck.

They had only stopped once Emma had caught Henry falling asleep while still holding a book in his hand. At that Emma had decided it was time for bed for the both of them. After practically having to force Henry to give up the search for the night and promising him they would start again tomorrow he finally relented and made his way up to his room.

Emma followed shortly thereafter stopping to check on him before silently making her way to the guestroom Henry had shown her to earlier. It was strange staying there. She couldn't shake the feeling that she was about to get in trouble for it even though she knew Regina wouldn't be waking up to yell at her. She was half wishing that it _would_ make Regina so mad that she would wake up on her own just to yell at her and throw her out.

She lay on the bed trying to come up with a better strategy for tomorrow before she eventually fell into a restless sleep.

She awoke only a few hours later frustrated and exhausted still. As she glanced at the clock it hadn't been that long at all since she had turned in. It was only just after two in the morning. She was hoping to find her way back to the hall of mirrors but there was nothing like that tonight.

Rising from the bed she silently crept down the hall and entered to room of the sleeping brunette as quietly as she could. She didn't want to wake Henry but she just felt she needed to be here.

Emma watched Regina while pacing the room until she was sure her legs would give out soon in exhaustion. She didn't want to leave the room yet though. Hoping that when Regina did wake up she wouldn't kill her Emma made the decision to climb into the bed next to her and lay down facing Regina before grabbing her hand once more and slowly drifting back to sleep.

**O O O**

Emma opened her eyes and found herself back in the hall of mirrors. Everything looked the same and so she immediately raced off down the right hallway again until coming to the room she had been in before.

Making her way to the front of the chair she again found Regina staring at the screen in front of her as tears tracked down her face. Coming to stand beside her she reached out again to try and touch her and once again passed through her as though she were nothing more than a ghost.

Finally looking at the screen in front of her, she was confronted with another of Regina's memories.

_A young Regina around the age of 14 raced from the house and to the stables in the dead of night where she immediately went to a large chestnut horse and began speaking to him in a low whisper. "I can't do this anymore Rocinante. We're leaving, you and me boy, but we must be quiet so as not to wake my mother." The horse chuffed softly at her in response as though he knew exactly what she had said. _

_Young Regina grabbed a tack from the wall and as silently as she could she led the horse from the stables and away from the house, glancing over her shoulder often to make sure she hadn't been followed. _

_Once she deemed they were far enough away she mounted the horse gracefully and urged him farther away from the house. It was dark and yet she raced along at breakneck speeds still glancing over her shoulder to make sure she hadn't been followed. _

_The further she got the more confident she became that she wouldn't be caught until she no longer kept looking behind her almost smiling in relief after a time. In a moment her relieved expression turned to one of horror as she was plucked off her horse and held firmly by some tree branches until she was turned to face her captor. _

"_Really Regina, did you think you could get away like this? Did you think that I wouldn't be able to tell when you left the property dear? I have magic, as soon as you reached the property line I was alerted to your departure. I thought you were smarter than that." Cora sneered at her. _

_Regina attempted to speak but as she did so the branches tightened around her so much so that she was losing her oxygen and couldn't breathe. Cora stood there watching with a look of cruel indifference on her face until Regina passed out from the lack of air. _

Emma watched on in horror over what Cora had done to her own daughter until the scene shifted.

_Regina awoke on her bed confused at first until she remembered passing out as the branches tried to crush her. Cora stepped from the shadows and looked down at her coldly before speaking. "Regina dear it seems you have not learned your lessons and I am growing tired of this behavior. I think it's time we made your punishments more severe since they obviously aren't strong enough to discourage you." _

_When Regina opened her mouth to protest she was immediately silenced by a wave of Cora's hand taking away her ability to speak. "Guards," Cora called. "Take her to the scold." _

_Two guards came and grabbed Regina by her arms and hauled her to what looked to be the same room as before albeit with a few new additions to it. They brought Regina to a pole in the room and she was made to wrap her arms around it while they again tied her hands in place. _

_The scold came forth as Cora entered the room. "Do as we discussed earlier and do not hold back. Twenty lashes." Cora ordered. _

_He walked to Regina and tore the dress from her back leaving her back exposed to the room as he took a whip from the corner. _

_Looking at it Regina's eyes widened in horror as she realized how her mother was planning on worsening her punishments. _

_As the first lash struck it flayed the skin on her back open and she tried to scream but Cora had not returned her voice to her so her screams remained silent. _

_Lash after lash was delivered as she continued to scream and cry without sound her back being split open with every stroke of the whip. After the twentieth had been delivered Regina's shoulders sagged in relief that it was over. _

_Cora had the guards untie her and move her back to her room where they placed her face down on her bed before moving out of the room but Cora remained. "I really wish you would not test me so Regina. I do not enjoy punishing you so, but you must learn to listen. I only want what's best for you." Cora stated as she stroked the still silently crying Regina's hair. "Don't worry about the scarring dear. I'll be back in the morning to heal you so your skin will be as good as new. I won't let this mar your beauty after all we can't have that." Cora stated with a smile before moving to the door and exiting the room leaving Regina alone sobbing into the darkness._

Emma was sick at watching the movie in front of her. She had met Cora and knew without it being spoken that Regina had had a crappy childhood but this went beyond her imagination. Cora had tortured her. If she was still alive Emma would've wanted to hunt her down and kill her herself.

She looked at Regina who had her eyes closed as though by closing them she could block out the memories in front of her but she could still hear them and worse than that she had lived them.

At that moment Emma wished with all her heart that she could do something more, anything more to comfort the woman in front of her. She tried reaching for her again and as the point where she normally passed through Regina she felt a spark of electricity and for a brief moment could feel solid flesh beneath her hand.

Regina apparently felt it as well as she gasped and her eyes shot open in surprise as she looked down at the point of contact. It only lasted a second and then the feeling was gone and Emma knew she couldn't feel her anymore but she watched as Regina trailed her had up to the spot Emma had touched her and rested her fingers there.

Emma was set to try and touch her again when she felt herself being violently pulled from that place and awoke with a gasp to Henry shaking her. "Emma wake up." Henry was standing over her pleading with her to wake up and she sat up immediately noticing the worried expression on his face.

"Henry what's wrong, what's going on?" She asked starting to panic a little at seeing his distress.

Henry launched himself at her and began sobbing into her chest. "You wouldn't wake up. I have been trying to wake you for twenty minutes and you wouldn't wake up. I thought something happened to you too. I can't lose both my moms." He cried.

Emma rubbed his back soothingly as she reassured him that she was there and nothing had happened to her. Pulling him back to look at her she could see he had finally calmed some.

"What happened?"

"I…I don't know." She answered.

**O O O**

**A/N: Let me know what you guys think so far and thank you for reading. **


	4. In My Darkest Hour

**Save Me From the Dark **

**Chapter 4: In My Darkest Hour**

**A/N: Thank you everyone for the follows and comments you have left. They mean so much to me and I look forward to all of them. All mistakes are my own. Enjoy. **

**O O O **

Regina had no idea how long she had been trapped in her own personal hell. There was no sense of time in this endless void of misery. No day, no night and seemingly no end in sight.

When she first got here she immediately thought about her last moments in the real world before she had decided to put herself to sleep. Emma had been there. Emma had been going on about how she was sorry and how they were _friends_ and she had almost reconsidered what she had been about to do.

Then the darkness threatened to take over as she felt her anger at the blonde rising and had quickly decided that she had no other option if she didn't want to be the Evil Queen anymore so she had done it. She had cursed herself to this place.

As soon as she had done it she saw the look on Emma's face when she realized what had happened. The Savior had caught her and the tears were falling freely down her face at seeing what was happening.

It was in that moment that Regina realized that maybe she hadn't needed to do this after all. Emma apparently really did care about her; they weren't just empty words and promises she was spouting. Perhaps she should have tried harder to fight the darkness in her heart and should have given their friendship a chance before resorting to this.

But it was too late. She had already made her decision and followed through. There was nothing that anyone could do to save her now. Still she remembered seeing Emma's face and the words fell from her lips anyway without her permission. She had asked the Savior to save her.

The next thing she knew she was here. The first thing she noticed upon waking in her new reality was the wall playing her memories on mirrors. She winced at seeing her most painful childhood memories on display.

She tried to leave that room that was like a movie theatre dedicated to showcasing her pain and head down the hallway but no matter where she went they followed her. In the hall they were just quick flashes instead of movies but they were painful to witness nonetheless.

She didn't know how long she travelled that hallway but when she got to a fork she chose a path and followed it to the end. What she saw when she got there did not offer any sort of consolation. That hall ended in a room just like the other one with a large round chamber playing scenes from her past.

She retreated and took the other hallway this time and was met with the same result. It seemed that no matter which way she went they all ended up in the same place. Resigning herself to that fact she took a seat in the throne in front of the screen.

There was nothing for her to do but sit and watch and so she did. She saw so many times where her mother had punished her for the slightest things. Some of the punishments were particularly cruel and painful while others weren't so bad.

As she watched she thought about things she hadn't thought about in ages. Most of these things she tried not to remember at all or she had buried them deep in her mind. Watching them now made them as fresh in her mind as the day they had happened.

The longer she sat there and watched the more she felt the impenetrable walls she had built around her emotions begin to crumble. There was no one here to see her fall. There was no one her to see her weakness.

Over time, as she let her wall down and let herself fall apart she began to notice that her feelings were bleeding in to the air around her. The longer she sat there the more she could feel the things from her memories in the air. Her fear, her hope, her despair, all of it and it just kept getting stronger.

She had also begun to notice that the memories playing were not only her most painful ones but her happiest as well. Regina wondered why it would also show her happy memories if this place were supposed to be filled with sorrow and regret?

It took her a long time to realize that the room showed her happy memories in order to make the pain that followed them so much worse. If she didn't remember the good, it wouldn't hurt as much when it was taken away.

Her own mind was torturing her with the things she could never have again. Regina decided that it must be her final punishment for being the Evil Queen. It was only fitting that she suffered as she had tried to make others suffer.

She spent much of her time crying at the fresh waves of pain that came from the displays.

Occasionally when she witnessed something particularly horrible she almost felt another presence with her. She knew that was impossible but sometimes she could feel an electric tingle in her skin.

Usually it happened on her arm or her hand and then it would be gone. It was always fleeting but for whatever reason, it was comforting. It felt warm and safe and seemed to be there whenever she needed that comfort the most. Oddly enough it reminded her of Emma and the times they had made magic together.

She had needed it earlier. As she watched what was probably one of her most painful memories and had an emotional break down she felt the presence envelop her in its warmth for the longest she had ever felt it, but then it was gone again.

Whatever it was, she _needed_ it to keep coming back.

**O O O**

It had been five days since the morning that Henry had tried to wake her up in a panic and Emma was exhausted both physically and mentally. After Henry had woken her up she knew she had to tell him what had happened.

Emma could still remember the look of relief on his face as she finally regained consciousness. They had gone downstairs for breakfast and she had told him about that first night when she found herself in the hall of mirrors and then about last night as well.

She made sure to leave out the details of Regina's memories. Henry had pushed for more information on them, but Emma had firmly told him they were private and he didn't need to know and he thankfully let it go.

Emma herself was having mixed feelings on being there. It was a huge invasion of privacy and if Regina knew that Emma had seen them she probably _would _kill her. She was sure that Regina wouldn't want anyone to know about half of the things she'd seen.

After she had informed Henry about what had happened the two of them decided to pay another visit to Mr. Gold. He had informed them that he was still working on a solution to the problem and didn't have any additional information but he did seem intrigued about the fact that Emma had almost been able to touch Regina on her own.

There was something about the gleam in his eyes as she told him about it that was extremely unsettling.

Henry for his part had said that he wanted to try and find his Mom too. After all he could go to that burning room since he had been under a sleeping curse as well. He wanted to do anything to save Regina.

The thought of Henry going there almost sent Emma into a panic attack. She didn't want Henry anywhere near that burning room again and she definitely didn't want him to actually stumble upon Regina's memories. No child should have to witness some of the things she had seen being done to his mother.

Thankfully Gold seeing her beginning to panic, stepped in with an explanation that immediately blunted the worst of her panic attack. He had told him that the burning room was reserved for people that had woken up from a sleeping curse and there was no way to get from there to where Regina was.

So after speaking to Gold and getting nowhere the two of them had hit the library. They told Belle what was going on and she had been helping track down any book she could find on curses while Emma and Henry spent all of their free time going through them.

She had also been trying to track down Robin Hood. No one had seen him since she had brought Marian back. As far as she knew the happy little family was out camping in the woods somewhere but the woods around Storybrooke were vast and there were a lot of areas to cover and she didn't even know where to start.

So her and Henry had developed a routine. She would try and chase down leads on Robin Hood to try and ask him for help while Henry was in school. After school was out David would take over at the Sheriff's office and she and Henry would hit the books at the library until closing time.

Sometimes they would go to Granny's for a late dinner, but mostly they would order take out and pick it up on their way back to the mansion. She was trying to avoid running into Hook and her mother who had been trying to call her nonstop since that first night.

Once they returned to the mansion Emma would send Henry off to bed before climbing into bed next to Regina and would take her hand and interlace their fingers before passing out herself.

After that first night with Henry in the house she had tried sleeping in the guest room again but once again she was restless after only a few hours of sleep and she had not been able to get to Regina.

She felt a pull to Regina's room and finally fell back to sleep holding the brunette's hand when she was finally able to make it back there. She quickly figured out that she needed to be touching Regina in order to make it to where she was, so she had stopped sleeping in the guest room altogether and just went straight to Regina's room every night.

Because she was sleeping longer next to Regina every night she had seen so many more memories. To her great relief not all of them were as bad as the first two she saw. There were plenty of times her mother had punished her but not all of them were as harsh.

Unfortunately she has also started to feel what she guessed were Regina's emotions in the air. It was strange and almost felt like more of an invasion of privacy than just watching the memories. What she couldn't tell was whether the emotions she was feeling came from the memory playing at the time or from the brunette beside her. Sometimes it was even difficult to distinguish her feelings from the ones in the air, especially during the more painful memories where she would feel Regina's rage at her mother because Emma was busy raging at Cora too for what she had done.

Thankfully though she also got to see a lot of happier times as well. She saw the moments Regina had spent with her father who clearly loved her yet always failed to protect her from Cora. Still it was obvious that Regina loved him dearly as well. So many times he would sneak off to the kitchens with her for treats or would praise her for her riding skills.

As the nights wore on she also got to see Regina falling in love with Daniel. Those were the most amazing for Emma to watch. She had never seen Regina so happy and filled with hope and when she smiled in those moments it was so radiant it could light the room.

Regina would often sneak off after riding lessons and steal kisses with him in the stable or they would sneak away for picnics together. It was obvious that they loved each other dearly.

Watching Regina like that, Emma wanted nothing more than for Regina to have that again. To be able to smile like that again. To be happy like that again, unfortunately Regina had far too few of those memories and far too many of the painful ones.

She had tried to touch Regina again several times and each time it was fleeting and took a lot of concentration and energy on Emma's part. It was always easier for Emma to touch her when the emotions in the room were at their strongest. Whenever the pain or sadness or fear became almost too much to bear it made it easier for Emma to reach her. She figured that was because that was when it was needed the most.

Then last night she had seen something that had made Regina and her completely break down and she was able to hold Regina for the longest time yet.

She saw the day that Regina saved her mother from a runaway horse. Regina was so brave and kind in those days. She hadn't given it a thought before she leaped onto her horse and pushed him to catch up to save the girl calling for help. Because Regina had saved her mother the King had then proposed and Cora accepted.

Regina was only 17 at the time and was already madly in love with Daniel so she had gone to him and convinced him to run away with her when a young Snow White caught them and took off. Regina had chased her down and told her all about true love being the most powerful magic of all and had asked Snow to keep her secret.

Even knowing what was coming next couldn't prepare Emma for seeing it right in front of her. She had met Cora and the woman was evil no doubt but how little she cared for Regina's happiness still stunned her.

Cora caught Regina and Daniel trying to run away and at first after Regina had pleaded with her mother to let them go, it almost looked like Cora would agree. Seeing the happiness on Regina's face in that moment was heartbreaking because she thought her mother finally understood and loved her enough to let her be happy with Daniel.

Then Cora ripped his heart out right in front of Regina and crushed it and the scream that left her at seeing Daniel killed in front of her made Emma's own tears begin to fall. Emma watched as young Regina tried over and over again to kiss Daniel and bring him back as she cried. She watched as a light went out in her eyes that night and knew that this moment had changed Regina forever.

Beside her in the room Regina had let out a choked sob and the tears fell freely from her eyes as she watched her younger self lose Daniel. The pain on her face looked as fresh as the day it had happened and without thinking Emma tried to pull her into her arms.

To her surprise the contact wasn't fleeting like it had always been before but it still wasn't solid. It was still like an electrical tingle running through her arms where they connected but she was able to hold Regina for some time until her sobs had quieted down and she looked around her in confusion and gratitude at the presence she felt.

Emma continued to hold her until she felt herself being pulled from the dreamland and waking up in reality next to the brunette.

All Emma could think about was the look on Regina's face both in the memory and sitting next to her last night. She was at Granny's nursing a cup of coffee while waiting for Henry to get out of school so they could continue their routine and head to the library.

"You look like hell, Em" Ruby stated as she came over to fill Emma's nearly empty coffee cup for the fourth time.

"Gee thanks. It's not like I don't know that." Emma dejectedly replied. She knew she looked awful. Even though she was sleeping long hours at night to spend them with Regina she never felt rested when she woke up. She had started getting dark circles under her eyes and had been drinking enough coffee that the caffeine intake should have given her a heart attack by now.

Ruby sat down in the booth in across from her "Why don't you tell me what's going on with you? I haven't really seen you or Henry lately. Belle tells me you're at the library all the time and I've seen you trying to avoid Snow and Hook by sneaking out the back when they show up and you are actually here. I'm worried about you Emma, a lot of us are."

Emma eyed Ruby at that, she knew her mother was worried but she hadn't realized that she was being so obvious that something was wrong. "If I tell you what's going on you cannot tell a soul," she sighed.

Ruby gestured for her to continue, "I promise," she hadn't actually thought it would be that easy to convince Emma to open up.

Emma studied her for a long moment trying to determine if it was safe to tell Ruby what was going on before explaining. "Regina put herself under a sleeping curse the night that I brought Marian back and messed things up between her and Robin Hood," she sighed.

Ruby's eyes widened almost comically at that but she was too speechless to say anything so Emma continued. "Henry and I have been doing everything we can to wake her up. We've been to Gold and we go to the library every day to look through any books that Belle can find on the subject. I've also been looking for Robin to see if he can help but I can't find him anywhere."

"Why didn't you say anything?" Ruby asked once she had taken in what Emma had told her.

"Because I don't want everyone to know. Henry and I are going to fix this no matter what and I don't have the patience or the time to deal with the town's reaction if they found out. As much as Regina has changed, I'm betting there would still be quite a few people that would throw a party or something about it and would say some things that neither I nor Henry would want to hear on the subject."

Unfortunately Emma was probably right about that. "I promise not to say anything, and if you need help looking for Robin while you figure this out I can go for a run and try and sniff him out." Ruby offered.

Emma actually smiled at that "Thanks Rubes that would be great. I don't know if he can do anything but we're willing to try anything."

Emma wasn't sure she actually wanted to find him, it was Henry's idea and she couldn't let the kid down by not exploring all their options. She didn't know what Robin could do anyway. He hadn't even come to check on Regina since he got his wife back as far as she knew, but they had been dating before all this so maybe they could at least get him to try and kiss her.

Lately though the thought of Robin kissing Regina awake had begun to make Emma sick for some unknown reason. She attributed it to not liking him for the simple fact that he didn't seem to care at all about what had happened to Regina since he got his wife back.

Henry finally entered the diner and made his way directly to Emma and Ruby. "Hey Henry, I haven't seen you much lately do you want some cocoa?" Ruby offered.

Henry frowned and thought about it for half a second before politely declining. "No thanks, Ma and I have stuff we gotta do. Right Ma?" Henry asked looking at her.

It put a small grin on Emma's face to know that Henry was so focused on helping his Mom that he turned down the cocoa she knew he wanted.

Ruby seeing the two of them so focused on their mission offered to make it to go before telling Emma that she would go for a run later.

As Henry and Emma grabbed their cocoa and coffee's to go and were leaving the diner Emma's phone started ringing. She had pretty much been ignoring everyone but when she saw the caller id read Gold she immediately began fumbling to answer it. "Hello."

"Miss Swan, it seems I might have found a solution to your problem…"

Before he could say anything more Emma was already running in his direction with Henry at her side cutting her phone off after a rushed "We'll be right there."

**O O O**

**A/N: So we got to see some things from Regina's perspective this time. Hopefully Gold has some good news for Emma and Henry. They are working so hard to save Regina. Hope you all enjoyed it.**


	5. A Light in the Dark

**AN: Thank you all for the follows, and comments you leave. If you are fans of Hook or Robin Hood you probably won't like what I have in store. I don't like either of them very much and I think it shows. Enjoy. **

**O O O**

The run from Granny's to Gold's shop wasn't far but Emma and Henry crashed through the door of the shop panting hard from how fast they had tried to sprint there after the call had come in.

Mr. Gold looked up at the duo as they came barreling through the front door. "I do believe there is no reason to rush quite so much," he smirked. "Regina isn't going anywhere and I would have waited for you to arrive."

Emma being the first to recover stood up straighter now that she could breathe and approached him with a scowl on her face clearly not happy at the remark he had made about Regina not going anywhere. "Tell me what you found. Can we wake her up?" She asked as Henry came to stand in front of her the look on his face pleading that Gold would say yes.

Gold's smirk faltered a bit as he took in the look of hope on his grandson's face knowing that Henry wouldn't be pleased at what he had to say. "Oh no dearie, as I've said before the only thing that _can_ wake Regina up is true love's kiss." He frowned as he saw Henry's face fall and saw the look of disappointment in his eyes that he knew had been coming.

"But you said you had a solution." Emma stated as she also noticed Henry's mood deteriorating quickly. She didn't like being misled especially when Henry's hopes had been so high on the way over here.

"That I did dearie and I believe I do. Just not to that. I have a solution to your problem of not being able to see each other when you _find _her on the other side." Gold stated as a slight smile graced his face when he noticed the twinkle in his grandson's eyes at his choice of words.

Emma didn't seem to notice the subtle exchange between the two and carried on with the conversation, "Well what is it?" She questioned her impatience with the situation apparent in her tone of voice.

"We'll get to that Miss Swan. First I have some questions I need you to answer."

Emma glared at him frustrated that he wanted to play twenty questions when they needed to get back to Regina but gestured for him to continue anyway. The faster she answered his questions and gave him what he wanted the faster they could get out of there.

"First, have you figured out what you need to be doing in order to reach Regina?" he asked.

"I have to be touching her while I sleep. It doesn't work if I'm not." She stated with a frown not understanding what that had to do with anything.

Gold just nodded along as though he expected her to say that. "Next, the last time we spoke you said you almost touched her on your own like a tingle of energy where you connected is that right?" He waited for the affirmation from Emma before continuing.

"How were you able to do that. You said that it's fleeting and you can't always do it so what is different about those times." He inquired with an unidentifiable expression on his face as he waited for her response.

Emma thought carefully about all of the times she had been able to almost touch Regina. She noticed Henry looking at her in expectation and interest as well before finally responding. "I have to concentrate really hard on the point of contact and even then it doesn't always work, but it's easier when the…" She trailed off looking between Henry and Gold searching for the right words, "more emotional memories are playing." She trailed off glancing away from them.

Gold nodded his head up and down before asking his final question. "The first time you were able to do it you said it was right before Henry woke you up, and that he had been trying for some time is that right?"

"Yes." Emma growled, getting frustrated with all of the questions that didn't seem to have a point other than going over things he already knew. "What does this have to do with anything? Get to the point already Gold."

Gold smirked and turned and limped behind the counter of his shop taking out a vial of blue liquid. "Sleeping curses trap the soul in a nether world where no one should be able to follow. You Miss Swan somehow have. I believe that your magic is responsible."

Emma frowned. "My magic. How would that be doing anything while I'm asleep?" She questioned not seeing what Gold was getting at.

"Yes Miss Swan, your magic, magic is about emotion. The stronger the emotions, the stronger the magic, you and Regina both possess very powerful magic. I believe that when you are sleeping that touching her and the strong desire you have to help her is allowing your magic and hers to connect together and pull you towards each other. The reason you can almost touch each other sometimes is—"

"Because that's when the emotion is strongest." Emma finished his thought eyes widening in realization. She had considered it before briefly. She knew that those moments were the times that Regina had needed her most and that she had desperately wanted to comfort her.

Gold smirked, "now you're getting it. It's also when you're deepest in that realm, which is why Henry had such a hard time trying to wake you during one of those moments. In order to touch her and for her to see you though, you would have to go even deeper into it. Your soul should not be trapped there, because you are not under a sleeping curse. For it to get there you would have to go into a very deep sleep, so deep in fact that it would be able to follow the pull to Regina."

Gold held up the bottle of blue liquid between them. "This is a very strong sleeping potion. Not a curse, meaning you won't need true love's kiss to awaken, but strong enough to allow your soul to reach the other side."

Emma went to grab it from him but he pulled it back before she could. She frowned thinking he was about to renege on their deal of him helping her for free. Before she could say anything though he looked to Henry and then back at her before continuing.

"All magic comes with a price Miss Swan. This is no exception. You will not wake up until the potion wears off and then you will be pulled back to your body. Being able to touch Regina also means that she can touch you and anything that happens to you while you are there will also affect your physical body. Take care not to make her Majesty angry while you're there. You will have no way out until it wears off if you do." His tone held an edge of warning to it.

Emma and Henry both scowled at what Gold was implying. "Mom won't hurt Emma." Henry assured.

Gold regarded his grandson carefully. "Normally Henry that may or may not be true but Regina is in a very bad place which could bring out the worst in her. She also may not believe that Miss Swan is truly there. She may think it to be a manifestation created by the room to torment her. There is no telling what could happen."

Henry frowned at that response. No matter what Mr. Gold thought he knew that his Mom wouldn't hurt Emma.

Bending down to be at eye level with Henry, Gold told him very specifically, "Henry, once your mother goes to sleep with this potion it is imperative that you not try and wake her. She must wake on her own naturally. If you try and wake her too soon it could have violent repercussions." The warning and the seriousness of his tone made Henry's eyes widen as he gulped in fear.

"Do you remember when you were in the burning room and Aurora got sucked out?" he asked.

Henry nodded eyes still wide with fear.

"You were both burned very badly at that time from being ripped away from that place so abruptly. If you try and wake her before she's ready it could be much worse."

Henry shook his head in acknowledgement, before looking up at Emma in concern.

Emma tried to smile reassuringly at him but it was hard to do when she was feeling a little bit afraid herself of what might happen. She wouldn't let that fear stop her though; she was going through with this no matter what.

Gold stood again and offered the potion to Emma. "It only takes a drop or two on the tongue. Do not take more than that at a time. It should take effect fairly quickly so make sure you are completely in place and ready to go before you take it."

Emma swallowed down the lump that was forming in her throat at his clear instructions.

"I'll protect Ma from waking up before she is ready." Henry vowed.

Emma glanced down to him and smiled genuinely. Together they would figure this out and help each other through whatever they might need to do.

Taking the potion from Gold and thanking him for his help Emma placed a hand on Henry's shoulder to lead them out of the shop.

Once outside Henry turned to look at Emma and asked, "are we still going to the library today then?"

Emma considered the question but then there really was no point to that today. After everything that Gold had told them she didn't think she would be able to focus on what she was reading anyway. She had a lot to think about before tonight.

Smiling down at Henry as she made sure to carefully pocket the potion before she answered, "Nah kid, I think we just took in a lot of information. How about today we go out to dinner at Granny's and get a good hot meal before we head home for the day. Who knows how long I might be asleep tonight and I don't want to starve to death." She tried to joke but it didn't seem to break up the tension like she thought it would.

Henry smiled and quickly agreed before he began following after Emma towards the diner.

As soon as they walked through the door Henry headed straight for their usual booth as Emma slid in on the other side. She smiled at him genuinely before taking his hand while they waited to order.

"This is a big step forward in Operation Rise and Shine," she said. "I'm gonna get to talk to your Mom and let her know how hard we're working to wake her up."

Henry smiled at that; it seemed like the first time all week they had made real progress on the Operation. Even though he was worried about both of his Moms he knew that Emma wouldn't let anything happen to either of them. He believed in her. She was the Savior after all; there was no way she could fail.

Ruby walked up to their table relieved to see the two of them with smiles on their faces again. "So you two look happy, good news I take it?" She asked.

Emma smiled at her in return. "Yep, we made some progress today on the Operation. We're still a long way from being done but we've got a step in the right direction."

Ruby was grateful that the two of them had received some good news. She had seen them run off towards Gold's shop when they left the diner earlier. "That's great, do you still need me to take that run later and look for what we talked about?"

Emma considered it and even though the thought of Robin Hood being Regina's true love was starting to make her sick, they still had to try. From what she'd seen of Regina's life she deserved somebody who cared a lot more about her than the thief. She deserved to be happy with someone who would put her first and who would do anything to save her if she needed it, not disappear without a trace and turn his back on her after hurting her.

"Yeah Rubes, we still have to explore all the options even if I don't think that particular one will lead anywhere." Emma huffed.

Henry knew what Ruby was talking about and he also noticed his mother's reaction to the suggestion. Brow furrowed he decided to let it go for now and think about it later.

"Alright, well what can I get you guys?"

Emma smiled grateful that the wolf was willing to help before giving her their order, "two cheeseburgers and fries and some chocolate shakes."

"Will do, I'll go put this in and be back in a bit," Ruby said as she sauntered off to go put their order in.

She had barely left the table before the bell chimed announcing the arrival of a customer and Henry groaned at seeing who it was. Emma heard the groan and had a bad feeling about who had just walked in the door.

Hook spotted Emma and Henry in their usual booth as soon as he entered. Smiling to himself that he would finally be able to corner Emma into talking to him he made his way over. He knew the blonde had been dodging him and ignoring his calls for the last week, then he had come to find out that she was ignoring Snow too. He had finally gotten Snow to tell him what was going on, not that it was that difficult, and she had told him all about the sleeping curse and Regina.

Hook slid into the booth next to Henry choosing to ignore the glare he received from the blonde as he did so. "Hey there love; long time no see. What say you let me take you out on a date tomorrow now that you've decided to rejoin the rest of the world?" he smirked.

Emma frowned in response to his question. "Seriously? I haven't talked to you for almost a week and the first thing you do when I do see you is try to get me to go on a date?"

Hook shrugged, not fazed by Emma's attitude at all. "Well sure, I figure if you're out and about again that you must have given up on this ridiculous idea of waking the Evil Queen up, so what's stopping us from going on a date?"

Emma looked livid for many reasons. First at the fact that Hook knew about Regina and there were only a handful of people that could have told him, when she had asked everyone not to say anything. Second because he _knew_ about Regina and thought that it would be the perfect time to ask for a date. And finally because of the comment he had made with Henry here about it being ridiculous to want to wake the Evil Queen. She couldn't decide which of those three things pissed her off more.

Trying to keep her voice steady so as not to alert the other patrons in the diner to the argument that was coming she asked, "How do you even know about that?"

Hook smirked apparently oblivious to the ire of the blonde in front of him, "Snow told me. You've been avoiding both of us and I went to her to find out why. She told me what happened and that you've been over there trying to fix things, but can't say I understand why. The Evil Queen put herself there, maybe we should leave her there."

As mad as she was, she was still aware enough of her surroundings to notice Henry shaking with rage at the things the pirate said. This was exactly why she didn't want anyone other than a select few to know what was going on. She knew that there would likely be more than a few people of that same opinion no matter what Regina had done to redeem herself. She had saved them all more than a few times but these fairy tale characters sure could hold a grudge and neither her nor Henry wanted to hear it.

Hook looked as though he was about to say something more but before he had the chance to make things worse Ruby interrupted with their dinner and put their plates down with more force than was necessary. She had heard the entire exchange and she was surprised Emma was still holding on to her control.

She and Regina had never spent any time together and they had tried to kill each other when she was fighting with Snow but she didn't hate the woman. She had always respected that Regina had protected the wolves of her kingdom when no one else would. She had also seen how much the woman had changed over the years and how much she loved Henry.

Looking at Hook, Ruby glared at him, "I think you need to leave now, before I decide to let my wolf rip off your other hand." She snarled, her eyes flashing yellow and showing a glimpse of the predator that lay just beneath the surface.

Hook finally noticing the thick tension that surrounded them and seeing the wolf so close to the surface in Ruby's eyes decided that it might be best if he tried to speak to Emma later. "Alright love, just think about that date. I'm going back to me ship for now." He stood and made his way out the door.

As soon as he left Ruby plopped down next to Henry and put her arm around his shoulder. She could see now why Emma hadn't wanted to tell people. "If you want me to _accidentally _eat him later just let me know." She said in a joking manner.

It had the desired effect of breaking up the tense atmosphere around the three of them and Henry and Emma actually laughed a little. "Thanks Ruby." Emma smiled. "We'll let you know but I don't think that's necessary, yet." She chuckled.

"Well the offer is on the table. I better get back to work before Granny gets mad." Ruby squeezed Henry with the arm she still had around his shoulders before leaving the two of them alone to eat their dinner.

Dinner was mostly quiet after that; their happy mood from earlier seeming to evaporate after the tense interaction with Hook. After finishing their dinner the two of them once again thanked Ruby for everything offering her sincere smiles of gratitude before making their way out of the diner and towards the mansion.

The walk to the mansion was quiet, neither one of them wanting to break the silence and talk about what had happened yet. As they neared the house though it was Henry that eventually decided to speak. "Are you nervous, Ma?" he asked so quietly she almost hadn't heard him.

She looked down at her son walking beside her who was still glancing at the ground as they walked before considering her answer and replying, "A little bit. That place is not a nice place for her and I don't know how she'll react to me being there."

Henry looked up at her confusedly, "but Ma you've already been there the whole time practically."

She snorted a little and decided to share her thoughts with her son, "I know that and you know that but Regina doesn't know that." She sighed, "Your Mom is a very private person Henry, and some of the things that I've seen in some of her memories I'm sure she wouldn't want anyone to see. I feel bad about invading her privacy like that but at the same time I think she needs someone there to help her through it and I want to be there for her." She trailed off, not noticing the look that Henry was giving her.

"I understand, Ma." He smiled, "but like you said she needs us, so we have to be there for her."

She looked down at the smiling face of her son and was so grateful that Regina had raised him to be the kind and compassionate person he was turning into. She couldn't help but grin back at him. "Yep, kid. So let's go do whatever we have to in order to help her."

They had just made it to the mansion and rushed inside out of the cold. Emma sent Henry up to get ready for bed while she made her way upstairs to get ready herself.

Once they were both ready for bed, Emma climbed in next to Regina and grabbed her hand, interlacing their fingers. Henry came in to say goodnight and kissed his brunette mother before making his way over to kiss his blonde mother goodnight.

They both looked at the potion bottle in her hand and both had nervous smiles on their faces. They had decided together that because they didn't know how long the effects would last or how long it would take before it worked that Henry would put one drop on Emma's tongue tonight so they could test it out.

Taking the vial from Emma and the dropper he made sure she was ready. When she nodded that she was ready, she squeezed Regina's hand gently before Henry put the drop in her mouth. He made sure to put the rest of the potion aside for later as Emma lay back on the bed.

"When you see her, tell Mom I love her and I miss her." He said before leaving the room and turning out the lights.

It didn't take long. Once the lights were out and she was comfortable Emma fell into a deep magically induced sleep within minutes. Her last thoughts before she fell asleep were spent wondering how Regina would react once they saw each other again.

**O O O **

**AN: So I hope that my explanations made sense as to why Emma is able to reach Regina. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter because things are about to get really intense. Let me know what you think and thanks for reading. **


	6. Fear the Darkness

**Chapter 6: Fear the Darkness**

**AN: Sorry for this being a little late. I had a rough week and my work schedule is changing so I am still trying to adjust and find different times to write. This chapter has some dark parts to it. **

**TRIGGER WARNING: This chapter contains scenes of sexual abuse and violence. If that bothers you I suggest you skip the part in **_**italics**_**. You should be fine to read the rest of it though. **

**O O O **

When Henry awoke he could tell it was still early as it was still dark outside. He left his room to go to the bathroom but before returning he debated whether or not to check on his mothers.

Decision made, he knew he would have to be really quiet so as not to wake Emma like Mr. Gold said. He approached the door to the room and pushed it open as slowly as possible to avoid any noise.

The room was dark and he could hardly see a thing but there was enough light from the moon coming through the window that he was able to make it to Emma's side of the bed without running into anything.

He could just make out the silhouette of his mother's sleeping form. Emma still gripped his Mom's hand tightly. Her face, from what he could see, seemed relaxed and she was sleeping peacefully it seemed.

It reassured him that everything seemed to be ok so far. If something bad had happened Mr. Gold said it would show physically so from the look on her face everything was fine. Glad to know that there weren't any problems that he could see he left the room to return to his own and get some more sleep.

When Emma woke up later she could tell him all the details. He really hoped that the potion had worked and that Emma had spoken to his Mom. He couldn't wait for her to tell him everything.

**O O O **

Emma once again appeared right outside the large mirror room at the back where she could see Regina still sitting in the chair in front of her.

Smiling to herself knowing that she would finally get to speak to her this time she debated on how to approach her until something in the memory playing in front of them caught and held her attention as she looked up at it and froze.

_Regina was pacing a large bedchamber dressed in luxurious white gown that had to be a wedding dress. She was wringing her hands together as she paced the room back and forth seeming extremely nervous. She kept glancing at the door every few seconds and at the guards stationed in front of it inside the room. _

_They were there to keep her in, not to keep anyone out. She was trapped. _

_Without warning there was a banging against the door and she jumped in surprise. She had been expecting it and dreading it but the arrival of the King still startled her. _

_The guards opened the doors immediately to allow Leopold to enter her rooms before they turned and closed them once again, shutting them all inside. Regina was frozen in the same spot she'd been in when she first heard the knock. _

_He eyes were wide with fear and her hands were trembling slightly as they rested on her stomach as she stared at the King. _

_Leopold said nothing for long moments. He stared at his new young bride taking a moment to leer at her form from top to bottom and back again. "My dear, as I'm sure you know, I married you because my daughter Snow wished it. She needed a new mother and she chose you. However, as my wife and the Queen, you also have certain marital obligations to fulfill." He sneered. _

_Regina swallowed the lump rising in her throat but words were lost to her at the moment and all she could do was nod her head in the slightest way to acknowledge what the King was saying. _

_The beginnings of a smirk crossed the King's face as he continued, "that being said, I will need you to provide an heir. I need a son to hand my kingdom down to and you will provide one." _

_He stalked towards her then, and she could see the lust in his eyes as he made his way to her with a lecherous grin on his face. As he reached her he grabbed her by the shoulders roughly ripping away her gown and leaving her in only her thin near see through slip that was beneath it. _

_She shrieked when it was ripped from her not having expected him to be so rough. She backed away from him trying futilely to cover herself before finding her voice once again. "My lord –" she began but before she could say anything else he backhanded her across the face knocking her to the floor. _

_She turned to look at him touching her hand to the corner of her mouth where she was struck and seeing her fingers come away with blood from where he had split her lip. Her eyes were wide and full of fear._

"_You will not talk back to me." He yelled. Turning his attention away from her momentarily he called out. "Guards" turning back to her he nodded his head towards her as he ordered them "hold her down on the bed." _

_She gasped and started to crawl backwards trying to get away but it was useless. The guards approached her swiftly, hoisting her up by her arms and tossing her back onto the bed where they proceeded to hold her down by the arms. She struggled uselessly against the iron grip they had on her as the King approached. _

_She attempted to kick out at him but despite his age Leopold was easily able to catch her ankle and keep her from kicking him as he climbed on top of her and pushed the slip up to expose her lower half to him as he undid his belt. _

_He pinned her legs down with his body as he entered her and she cried out in pain and tears began to leak down her face. She couldn't move she was trapped beneath him as he continued to thrust roughly into her making her cry out several times from the pain. _

_She opened her eyes and glanced up but that was worse. Not only could she feel the King sweating and heaving over her, but also she could see the guards that were holding her down by her arms smirking at her in sick satisfaction at watching the King take her and her being helpless to do anything about it. _

_Squeezing her eyes shut tight once more she wished over and over again in her mind for it to be over and thankfully it soon was. She felt the King release himself inside her and collapse on top of her out of breath from the exertion and spent. His weight crushing her until after a few minutes he blessedly removed himself from her stepping back and righting his clothes. _

"_I expect you won't be so difficult next time. It will make things easier for you." He grinned in satisfaction before nodding to the guards to release her and ordering them to follow him out and remain stationed outside the Queen's chambers. _

_Regina sat up and saw the blood of her innocence that streaked her thighs before she collapsed on herself curling into the fetal position, great wrenching sobs finally leaving her body as she remained in that position crying to herself. _

Emma was frozen. Of all the things she had seen of Regina's life so far this was the one of the worst. She was ashamed to realize she was related to that monster. It was made worse by the fact that she could feel Regina's emotions in the air. She could feel everything, the anger, the fear, the shame and embarrassment at not only the act, but at having it witnessed by the guards.

Emma was so stunned that as she watched Regina curl in on herself and begin to cry in the memory, she gasped and spoke without thinking. "Oh god, Regina."

The moment Emma spoke she realized what a mistake she had made as she saw her Regina spin around in an instant at hearing her and once she realized Emma was behind her and what she must have seen, there was a fury in her eyes the likes of which Emma had never seen before. Not even when they were in the worst of their fights.

Regina rose from her chair and stalked towards the stunned blonde in long angry strides. "What are you doing here? You have no right to be here." She yelled as she neared the blonde. The light from the scenes in the mirrors casted menacing shadows across her face as she approached making Emma swallow in fear as she backed away and raised her hands in a placating way towards the angry brunette.

Emma could feel Regina's fury radiating outwards into the room and for the first time she was terrified of her, she continued backing away until her back hit the wall and there was no where left to go.

Regina saw the blonde steadily backing away from her and smirked at the fearful look on her face. Having caught Emma watching her most private and humiliating memories enraged her. She didn't want anyone to see that let alone Emma Swan. She didn't want to see the look of pity in her eyes. Anything would be better than that including her fear. She didn't deserve pity. She was the Evil Queen and maybe it was time Emma understood that.

Regina closed what was left of the distance between them getting right in her face as she sneered. "Don't you pity me, I'm the Evil Queen. You'd do well to remember that." The mirrors behind her that usually played like movies began flashing in the same delirious procession as the others.

Emma watched in shock as she saw scene after scene of Regina ripping out hearts and crushing them, or of Regina using magic and fireballing people or torturing them. Regina was still in her face seeming to enjoy the looks on Emma's face as she watched. The shock didn't last long though as Emma realized what Regina was trying to do.

It helped that Emma could feel Regina's emotions in the air because even though she could see and feel her rage; underneath it there was something else. She could feel Regina's hurt and embarrassment that was hidden behind it. She couldn't blame her. She had known it was an invasion of privacy from the beginning; let alone showing up during something like that and surprising her.

Regina was trying to scare her off. She was in her face and was somehow showing her what was probably the worst of her Evil Queen days in an attempt to get rid of her. She said it herself she didn't want Emma's pity. What Regina didn't understand was that Emma didn't pity her. She understood her, probably more than the brunette would ever know, and she felt compassion for her but she didn't pity her. How could she when from everything she'd seen so far Regina was one of the strongest people she'd ever met.

Emma let the shock settle as she calmly met the brunette's gaze and tried to convey what she was feeling with her eyes. "It's ok. It doesn't matter. I'm here anyway." She said giving her what she hoped was a friendly grin of reassurance.

Whatever she'd done seemed to be the worst thing she could have done. She watched as Regina's smirk fell and her face contorted in confusion before the rage took over once more. Without warning Emma felt Regina plunge her hand into her chest and take hold of her heart, just like Cora had once done.

Emma grunted in pain as Regina squeezed a little harder. "You think it doesn't matter that I'm the Evil Queen. I've killed countless people, cursed an entire land, and taken and crushed more hearts than I can count and you think it doesn't matter." Regina yelled while giving Emma's heart another squeeze.

That wasn't exactly what Emma had meant but she was always bad at putting what she was thinking and feeling into words. Things had a way of coming out wrong. This time if she didn't come up with the right words to fix it, it might actually kill her.

It wasn't helping that Regina still had a firm grip on her heart and would squeeze every so often. She had to grit her teeth against the intense pain it brought when that happened, which was not helping her concentration at all but she had to try again to say what she really meant.

"I didn't mean it like that, of course it matters, it makes you who you are, just as my past makes me who I am." She gritted out through clenched teeth. "What I mean is, you're not that person anymore. To me you're just Regina, and seeing this and what came before doesn't change the way I see you or the fact that I want to be here with you, _for you_" She was panting with the effort of continuing to speak.

Regina squeezed once more pulling Emma in closer seemingly ignoring everything the blonde had just said. "I don't have to rip it out to kill you, you know, I could crush it while it's still in your chest and kill you here." She said menacingly.

The thought that Regina could and might actually do that should have terrified Emma but it didn't. Even though she was in intense pain and could see the anger still present in Regina, she could also feel that she was starting to get through to the brunette. Regina wouldn't kill her. Emma had faith in the person she was now, that she had just been trying to convince Regina that she could see.

With nothing but that faith and hope in her heart she reached out and pulled the brunette against her in a tight embrace. At first Regina gasped at the unexpected embrace and began trying to fight it and push Emma away but the blonde just held her tighter. She kept fighting even squeezing Emma's heart a few times hard enough to almost get the blonde to release her due to the pain but Emma held firm.

Placing her lips next to the ear of the still struggling brunette she began speaking to her once more. "It's ok. I'm here to comfort you. I'm here to help. I see you Regina. I see the real you. Let me stay. Let me be there for you. I'm sorry I invaded your privacy, I just want to be here with you." Emma kept whispering soft words of friendship and support trying to let the brunette know that she was there until she finally felt Regina beginning to calm and stop struggling.

Regina could still feel the blonde's strong arms around her holding her tight. No one had ever done that for her before. The warmth and strength of Emma surrounded her much like the strange presence she had felt at times here did. Finally she relented and gave in to the comfort she found in Emma's arms.

No one would be able to see her being weak here. What did it matter anymore, if she fell apart here in this place where no one would ever know. She released Emma's heart and pulled her hand back from her chest as she buried her face in the blonde's neck.

Emma squeezed her tighter and let out a sigh of relief at feeling the pain in her chest vanish. She felt Regina's arms tentatively circling her waist in a weak hug just as she felt Regina's hot tears begin trailing down her neck.

She kept speaking to her then in low whispers and began rubbing her hands up and down her back to soothe her as she felt Regina's defenses give way and she began sobbing in earnest and started clutching Emma tighter.

Emma smiled and just let her cry while she continued to hold her. She could finally comfort her the way she had needed to since the start of this whole mess.

"I'm not going to leave you alone in the dark," she promised.

**O O O **

**A/N: So that was an intense reunion. Hopefully things get a bit easier for them from here on out but no promises. Reviews are always welcomed and encouraged. **


	7. Whispers in the Dark

**Chapter 7: Whispers in the Dark**

**A/N: Yep, super intense last chapter. The response to the last chapter was overwhelming and I'm so glad that you all liked it. On another note this story now has more than 100 followers and I can't tell you how happy that makes me. **

**O O O **

Emma continued to hold Regina until her sobs began to subside but even then the brunette still clung tightly to her and Emma had no intention of making her let go.

She had no way of knowing how long they stood there. Time seemed to move differently in this realm. What felt like an hour here could be six back in the real world. They stayed like that for a long time until she finally felt Regina starting to pull back from her and loosen her arms from around her waist.

Pulling back so that she could see Regina's face she noticed that the brunette kept looking down and away as though she were ashamed of the emotions that had overtaken her and didn't want Emma to see, even though she had been right there through the whole thing.

Finally easing her grip from around the Regina's shoulders she gently brought her hands forward to cup the brunette's face and began wiping the tears that still streaked down her cheeks away with her thumbs.

Even after she had cleared the tears from her cheeks she continued softly stroking the skin under her fingertips until she finally coaxed Regina into meeting her gaze. She could see the uncertainty in her eyes at not knowing how to deal with the aftermath of their emotional reunion, so Emma smiled at her warmly, hoping to let her know that it was ok.

Regina seeing Emma smile at her finally began to relax a little bit, it wasn't lost on her that Emma was still holding her face. After what had just happened she had been afraid to look at Emma not knowing what she might find, especially after she had been squeezing her heart so viciously and threatening to kill her.

Seeing that Regina had finally calmed a bit, Emma took her hand and led them back to the chair in the room, it was really more of a lounge and had plenty of room for the both of them. She directed Regina to sit and then took a seat next to her; neither of them had spoken since their emotional words from earlier.

As they sat down, Regina began to look nervous once more. Neither of them really knew what to say or how to begin a conversation after that, but Emma decided not to make things more uncomfortable by dragging it out until they wouldn't be able to say anything.

"Thank you for letting me stay." She began and from the look on Regina's face that had clearly not been what she was expecting.

Regina's confusion at that statement had finally helped her find her voice, "how did you get here?" she asked with a confused furrow of her brow.

Emma smiled sheepishly before answering, "um, well ok, that's kind of a long story. After I caught you when you did what you did, I took you home and stayed with you. Henry and I have been looking for a way to get you out of here ever since. We've been researching curses and have talked to Belle and Gold and have been pretty much working on it everyday. Henry calls it Operation Rise and Shine. Anyway I kind of figured out how to get here after that first night. Gold said it has something to do with my magic, but I don't really know how to explain it."

Regina remained quiet for a time seeming to take all that in, but something about what Emma said didn't make sense to her. "You said you figured out how to get here right away but you haven't been here until now." She said confused.

She saw Emma glance away briefly before looking back guiltily, "that's not exactly true. I've been here a lot of times since that first night you just couldn't see me until now. Gold gave me some potion that would help you to be able to see me when I'm here and I took it tonight for the first time."

She saw the spark of anger reignite in Regina's eyes at realizing that Emma had seen far more that what she had initially thought. "What else did you see?" She growled out.

Emma didn't want to upset her but she also knew that Regina needed to know and she wouldn't lie to her. Grabbing her hand once again and stroking it to try and keep the brunette calm she decided to just get the truth out there, "Mostly scenes from your childhood with your mother. I've seen some of Cora's" she grasped for the right word, "punishments and I saw when you saved my mother and then what happened to Daniel." She finished.

Regina didn't know what to say, she should be angry at Emma for seeing so much of her life without her permission, but the fact that the blonde had seen all that and was here anyway attempting to comfort her without pitying her had her anger draining away.

Thinking about the things Emma had mentioned seeing brought her to another realization. "That was you! I felt something, during some of those times, I don't know how to explain it, a presence or like electricity running over my skin. That was you wasn't it?" She asked, her eyes not leaving Emma's as she waited for a reply.

Emma nodded, "yes it was me. I was trying to reach you, but that was the most I could manage without Gold's potion."

Regina remembered the first time she had felt the presence that it had reminded her of Emma, it seems as though the reason for that was because it truly was Emma. That thought comforted her more than it should have. Knowing that Emma had been there for her all along made whatever anger lingering in her for Emma's invasion fade away completely.

"You said that you and Henry have been trying to wake me up?"

Emma grinned at the change in subject. "Yeah we've been to see Gold a bunch of times, and we've been at the library every day or in your study, going over any books that we could find on the subject."

"Henry hasn't tried to wake me up?" Regina asked while glancing away. She wasn't sure she really wanted to know the answer to that. If Emma said yes that would mean that it hadn't worked and she wasn't sure she could handle what that meant.

Emma missed the way Regina looked away and answered oblivious the turmoil that question was causing to the brunette beside her, "of course he tried, a bunch of times in fact."

This time it was hard to miss the way Regina winced as she turned her face away. "I see," she said, her voice trembling slightly. Emma could just make out the tears in her eyes that she was trying to keep from falling.

She took a moment to think about what would cause that kind of reaction when she realized that Regina was thinking exactly what Henry had been thinking when it failed, that Henry didn't love her enough for it to work. "Hey, that's not it. Henry loves you so much. He has been working non-stop on this. When I went to get him and tell him what happened the day after you put yourself to sleep, do you know what he was doing when I got there?"

She waited until Regina met her gaze again and held it before continuing. "He was making you a break up basket. He had DVDs and wine and chocolate and he was planning to come spend all his time with you to make you feel better. The kid loves you so much Regina. He was devastated when he couldn't wake you and cried to me about how much he loves you and wanted you to come back. It wasn't until we talked to Gold about it and he said something about this being like the super sleeping curse that he finally calmed down about it. Apparently it's going to take a true love of a romantic variety to wake you up. So we started researching that and also looking for your happy ending."

For the first time since she got here she felt her lips tugging up into a small grin as her eyes began to water for a different reason. "He was making me a basket." She whispered.

Emma smiled at her seeing that her words had the desired effect of keeping Regina from doubting Henry's love for her. "Yeah and you know our kid, he won't rest until his operation is a success. He doesn't give up and I won't either. I wish I could show you how much he's been doing. I have to almost force him to stop and rest and go to school every day because all he wants to do is work on your happy ending and get you out of here."

Emma frowned at realizing it wasn't just Henry who she had to force to rest and carry out his obligations. She had to force herself as well. She had pretty much been ignoring her duties as Sheriff and spending all of her time working on Operation Rise and Shine as well.

"I'm sorry you know." Emma began again, not really sure where she was going but just needing to get the words out. "I know I said it before but I truly am. I never meant to ruin your relationship or hurt you. That's the last thing I wanted. I definitely never meant to make you think that you don't deserve a happy ending. You do."

Emma was no longer looking at her but Regina could see the turmoil written on her face. She was rambling and didn't even know it. She could see that Emma truly meant the words she was saying and that they didn't seem forced or empty.

Stopping Emma from continuing she squeezed the hand that still held her own so tightly, "I know now that you didn't do it to hurt me. I can see that now. It's just, I'm so tired of fighting all the time and of getting something good only to have it ripped away from me time and time again. If I don't deserve a happy ending, why should I keep looking for it and only continuing to get hurt." She finished sadly.

Emma frowned at her words. She couldn't believe that Regina really felt that way. After all this was the same woman who cursed an entire realm in pursuit of her happy ending, she fought for it then, why would she just give up now. "Regina, that's not true. If anyone deserves a happy ending it's you."

Regina snorted at that and chuckled a bit.

"I'm serious. It's not a joke. I haven't been here the whole time but from what I've seen of your life so far, you've been crapped on more than anyone I've ever met or even heard about and I'm going to venture a guess and say that it probably doesn't get much better, at least for a long time. I think it's about time you got what you should have had all along, love and support and the chance to truly be happy. Even if you don't believe that, I've made it my mission to find it for you." Emma watched Regina's reactions closely. She looked like she wanted to refute Emma's claims about her being deserving but for whatever reason decided to remain silent for now.

They sat there for a short time after that. Neither of them saying anything until Emma's hand suddenly slipped from Regina's grasp. Emma had suddenly become a lot less corporeal but she could still see her.

She tried touching her again but her hand passed right through Emma's. Emma frowned, "the potion must be wearing off. Gold said it would. I have to go for now, and I have some things I need to do, but I'll be back soon." She promised.

She didn't miss the look on Regina's face as she said that. It was a look that said that she didn't truly believe that the blonde might return.

**O O O **

Emma awoke with a start and sat upright in the bed. Looking around the room she realized that no one had woken her up, the potion had just worn off, but it still felt a little like she had been ripped in half and dunked in cold water. She figured it must be a result of literally being in two places at once in a way, her body here and her spirit there.

Her muscles felt stiff and sore and she realized she was still clinging to Regina's hand tightly. Deciding to get up and start moving to hopefully stretch out the aches and pains in her body, she extricated herself from Regina and left the bed.

Despite Regina's initial reaction to her presence, Emma couldn't help but smile that she had gotten through to her. She knew today would be a better day than the last weeks worth combined, if only for the fact that last night's meeting had given her hope and something to look forward to when she went to sleep again. She smiled tenderly at Regina's still sleeping form as she leaned over and gave her hand another reassuring squeeze.

Taking a step back and looking at the clock it was a little after eight in the morning, and it was a Saturday so Henry probably wasn't awake yet, or was just getting up. Figuring she probably had enough time for a quick shower before Henry was up she headed off towards Regina's bathroom.

It wasn't long after she had finished her shower and dressed that she heard what had to be Henry opening the door to the room slowly. Smiling to herself because she'd known that the first thing he would do when he woke up would be to check on them, she waited for what she knew was coming next.

After opening the door to the room and finding Emma missing from the bed, Henry couldn't contain his nervous excitement at the prospect of finding out what happened and shouted "Ma!" before throwing the door open the rest of the way and barreling into the room.

Hearing him shout for her, Emma finished running a brush through her hair before leaving the bathroom and stepping into the room only to have Henry crash into her and hug her in a tight embrace almost knocking the wind out of her.

After a moment, he finally raised his gaze to meet hers and smiled widely. "Did you do it? Did you talk to her? Did you see her? Did you tell her I miss her and love her?"

"Whoa kid, slow down. One question at a time alright." Emma grinned at seeing how enthusiastic her son was at the prospect that she had talked to his other mother. She knew she would have to tell him every thing; he wouldn't let her get away without knowing all the details.

Instead of delving into all of the details of their meeting right here she decided to only answer a few of his questions before going into the full story. "Yes I saw your Mom, it worked, and I did tell her how much you miss her and love her."

Before he could get more questions out in the next breath she stopped him by placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. "I know you want all of the details Henry, but why don't we get something to eat while we do it. I'm starving, how about you go get dressed and we'll go to Granny's for breakfast and I tell you the whole story."

Henry nodded quickly and shouted a rushed "alright" as he sprinted out of the room to get ready. She chuckled at his reaction. He was full of youthful optimism and energy. Shaking her head she left the room to wait for him in the foyer and put her boots on.

He got ready quickly and bounded down the stairs to meet her and before she knew it they were headed out the door and down the street towards the diner. Henry was jogging in an effort to get there sooner so he could hear the story.

As soon as they got there he went straight to their usual booth and sat down staring at her expectantly. She slid in across from him just as Ruby came up to the table and asked what they wanted to eat. They ordered breakfast without even glancing at the menu they'd seen hundreds of times and Ruby left again to place their order.

They sat there for a bit as Emma drank her coffee, but it wasn't long until Henry couldn't stand the wait anymore. "Come on Ma, tell me everything. You said you talked to her, how did it go was she glad to see you?"

Ruby returned with their breakfast, just as she caught the tail end of Henry's question, looking at Emma curious as to what had happened to make the both of them look so happy this morning.

Emma snorted and gave a small laugh at the memory of what had really happened when she first saw Regina. She took a drink of her coffee and answered, "actually she tried to kill me." She stated as a fond smile crossed her face.

Ruby and Henry both gaped in shock mouths open as Ruby practically fell into the seat next to Henry before the shock seemed to wear off for the both of them at the same time and they almost shouted, "what?" in unison, causing the other patron's of the diner to look in their direction, luckily it wasn't that busy, so there weren't that many people around.

Emma laughed at their reaction before noticing all the attention they had drawn. She waited for the other customer's to lose interest and turn back to their own meals before turning and facing her friend and her son.

When she finally looked back at them she noticed they both seemed to have been drained of their color and still sat staring at her. Ruby was the first to recover and speak. "Wait a minute, back up. How did you even talk to her? Did I miss something?"

Henry looked at Ruby then and seemed to find his voice but it still came out shaky as he tried to fill her in on the details they hadn't told her previously. "When we went to see Mr. Gold yesterday he gave Ma a potion that would allow her to talk to my Mom while she's under the curse," he finished.

Swallowing, he looked back at Emma, "I'm sorry Ma, I never really thought she would try and hurt you," he choked.

Emma waved it away like it was nothing and smiled which only served to confuse the two across from her even more. "Eh, it's no big deal. You know with Regina and me, that's almost like the friendly hug you would give to a good friend you haven't seen in a really long time." She laughed.

Henry still looked pale but now he wore a look of confusion as well. Ruby though laughed along with Emma at the blonde's casual attitude towards what happened and the statement she had made. "You know I think you might be right about that Em."

Henry couldn't understand why his blonde mother seemed so happy this morning after his brunette mother had tried to kill her but if Emma wasn't upset by it, then he guessed he shouldn't be bothered too much either, obviously something had stopped her from killing Emma. "So what happened after that?" He asked trying to get the whole story she had promised to give him earlier.

Emma then proceeded to tell the two of them what had happened, making sure to leave out the part about the memory she had walked in on and only saying that when she had shown up out of nowhere it had surprised Regina.

She told them about how after, they had gotten past the whole trying to kill her thing, the two of them sat and talked about the curse and about her bringing Marian back. Emma told them about how she had also told her all about how hard they were working on finding her happy ending and about Operation Rise and Shine.

Henry had finally gotten some color back into his face as he sat and listened to the story, before he decided to ask the question he had been working up the nerve to ask since they got there. "Did she ask about me?" He asked in a low tone, but Emma heard him clearly anyway.

"Of course she did," she started making sure to make eye contact with him. "In fact I'm pretty sure the only thing that made her really happy during our visit was hearing about you and our Operation, and when I told her about the basket you were making for her before all this happened."

He smiled then for the first time since she had first started telling him about everything after Regina had tried to kill her, and seemed pleased that he had made his mother happy in whatever small way he could under the circumstances.

She had just finished telling the story when she heard Granny call out to Ruby to get back to work. "Sorry Em, I've got to get back to it before Granny skins me." Ruby laughed. "I'm glad you're ok and that you got to talk to Regina. Oh and before I forget, I went for that run last night and found out where they moved their camp since Marian's return."

Ruby pulled what looked like a map out of her apron and passed it to Emma. "I marked their new campsite on the map for you. Hope this helps. If you need help with anything else just let me know ok." Ruby smiled at Emma and then Henry and patted him on the shoulder before she left them to finish their breakfast.

Emma sat there looking at the map in her hand for a long moment seemingly lost in thought. Henry decided to say something to break her out of what had her so concentrated. "Is that where Robin is? When are we going to go talk to him?"

Henry's question brought Emma back to the present and she looked at him, her confusion clear. "Yes it's where Robin is, but what do you mean we? I'm going to go talk to him while you go home and wait with your Mom."

"What no, come on Ma it's not like we're doing anything dangerous and you're protecting me, we're just going to go see him and talk to him about my Mom. Maybe I can help." Henry pleaded with her.

Emma knew her son was just trying to help, she also knew there was a good chance he'd try and follow her if she said no. He was wrong about one thing though, it might not be dangerous, but she was still trying to protect him. She couldn't shake the feeling that this wasn't going to go well and that Robin Hood wouldn't be the solution to their problems, and she didn't want Henry to be disappointed or hurt.

Looking at his face though and seeing the hope written there that he might be able to do something to help she just couldn't say no to him. Besides that Henry was a strong kid, he had been through so much in his short life, and though things might not work out the way he wanted she knew he'd be able to deal with it and find the silver lining if there was one to be found.

"Alright kid, you finish up your breakfast, then we'll go find Robin Hood."

**O O O**

**A/N: Longest chapter yet. Hope you enjoyed it. **


	8. Thief in the Night

**Chapter 8: Thief in the Night**

**A/N: So yeah, hope none of you like Robin Hood all that much…**

**O O O **

As soon as they had finished breakfast and said goodbye to Ruby, Henry had the map out and was looking to see where they needed to go to find Robin Hood.

Henry began pulling her in the direction of the police station, trying to get her to speed things up. It seemed he was really anxious to talk to Robin, meanwhile Emma was feeling anxious for a whole other reason. This was going to go badly, she just knew it.

Once they made it inside the station Henry wasted little time before he had the map spread out over one of the desks and was studying it before a look of confusion came over his face.

Emma finally made her way over to him to see what could have her son making that face when he was so excited only a moment ago. "What's up with the face kid?"

He glanced at her then before turning his attention back to the map. Pointing to the X Ruby had marked for them he said, "This is where Ruby said they are now."

Emma still didn't see what the big deal was. After all that was the point of them asking Ruby to find him, "yeah and…"

He pointed at another area of the map on the opposite side of Storybrooke that was a lot closer to Regina's mansion she noted absently, "and this is where they were before. It's closer to the main street in town and to my Mom's house."

Pointing back to the X on the map he continued. "They moved their camp all the way to the other side of town, and there aren't any hiking trails around there that would make it easy to get back into town."

She looked at the map again a frown falling over her face as she noticed that the kid was right. They had pretty much moved their camp as far from the other one as they could get and the area it was in was much harder to get to or stumble across.

Already this was looking like a bad sign that this wouldn't go well to Emma. Henry kept up his confused look finally voicing what had been on his mind. "Why do you think they would move so far? You don't think it's because of my Mom do you?"

As a matter of fact that's exactly what she thought but she couldn't bring herself to tell Henry that. After the way Marian had reacted to Regina's presence, maybe she hadn't wanted to be that close to the former Queen.

"I don't know kid, maybe they moved because Marian wanted to or because it's warmer there or something." She tried to keep her tone light and positive for her son. She even forced a small smile but the look on Henry's face told her that he could see right through her false positivity.

The dread in Emma's gut tightened at the prospect of her upcoming confrontation with Robin Hood and now more than ever she wanted Henry to stay here while she talked to him alone. "Hey kid, it looks like this isn't going to be as easy as I thought to get to. Why don't you go home or wait here or at the diner with Ruby and I'll come get you as soon as I come back."

Henry being the intelligent boy that he was saw right through her attempts to get him to stay behind. He could see that she was worried about talking to Robin and what the move of his camp meant, to be honest he was a little worried too now but he wouldn't be deterred. If Robin wasn't the answer then he wanted to hear the truth of what's going on. "No Ma, I'm coming with you."

Emma saw the look on Henry's face and knew this was a fight she wouldn't win. He had that determined look that said even if she left him behind he would find a way to follow. Short of locking him up in one of the cells, which she refused to do, she knew he would find a way to follow her.

She sighed her disagreement but said "alright Henry, just don't pin all your hopes on Robin Hood. I really don't think he's going to be the answer."

Henry could tell that Emma truly believed that Robin wasn't going to help, but he didn't understand why. His mother and Robin had been dating and things had been going ok from what he'd seen and what she'd told him so if he really cared he should want to help her, but he could see from just looking at Emma and the way she grimaced when he brought up Robin waking his mom up that she didn't like the idea.

Henry decided to let it go for now. Soon enough they would see if he'd help or not. Maybe Emma had some insight that he didn't. Instead of pressing her for more information as to why she thought that he turned back to the map and folded it putting it in his bag and headed for the door shouting over his shoulder "come on Ma!"

They decided it would be better to take the police cruiser because it had supplies in the trunk if they needed anything and it would handle the terrain better than Emma's bug before they would have to travel the rest of the way on foot.

The ride was silent each of them, keeping their thoughts to themselves. It didn't take long to get from the town to as far down the trail in that direction as they could travel by vehicle. Once they stopped Henry pulled out the map once more to check over their location. "It should be that way a little further," he said before turning and rushing off in that direction with Emma following close behind.

"Hey kid, slow down and stick with me would you we don't—" the rest of what Emma was trying to say was cut off as something flew past them whistling as it passed before it embedded itself deep into the tree next to her.

She ducked and grabbed Henry pulling him behind her immediately to protect him and moved them behind the nearest tree for cover and pulled out her gun. She barely had time to look over and see that it was an arrow that had flown past before she heard a voice call out, "halt, who goes there?"

Needless to say Emma was pissed. Whoever it was had just fired at her and more importantly her son. Making sure Henry was well covered by the tree and her she took a chance and peeked around the tree to try and identify their attackers.

She wasn't able to make out anything but trees, but she knew they were there even if she couldn't see them and she had a pretty good idea of whom it might be and it only served to raise her ire to another level. "It's the Sheriff, and if you don't drop your weapons and come out right now I promise firing at me and my son will be the last mistake you ever make." She yelled.

"Emma?" She heard a female voice that she was able to identify as Marian call out. She didn't feel the need to answer seeing as how she had just said that, so she waited until she heard movement followed by "It's alright men, stand down. We're coming out now Sheriff."

She wasn't willing to take any chances with Henry's safety so she kept him pinned between her and the tree but looked around again keeping her gun trained in front of her before she spotted Robin and Marian approaching from the front. It wasn't until they almost reached them that she stepped out from behind the tree and pulled Henry, who had been surprisingly quiet since this started, behind her but still kept her weapon pointed at the two in front of her.

"Where are the rest of your merry men?" She sneered as her eyes darted around the area searching for them.

"I'm truly sorry about that Sheriff I didn't know who you were at the time. It was just a precaution. We meant you no harm I can assure you." Robin smiled at her.

Emma glared at him. "I asked you a question. Where are the rest of your men?"

Robin sighed in response. "I sent them back to the camp once we realized it was you. You can put your weapon away, no one here will harm you, I owe you a debt that cannot be repaid for bringing my Marian back to me" he said as he glanced adoringly at Marian.

The way they were making eyes at each other was making Emma sick, but she did finally lower her weapon. "Maybe you didn't mean me any harm, but what if it had been someone else out here. You can't just go around shooting arrows at anyone who wanders in this direction." She stated with a glare.

Robin finally turned his attention back to her, "you may have a point Sheriff, but we moved our camp here to be out of the way and far from everyone. Chances are if someone makes their way out to where we are now it's because they are looking for us."

Emma narrowed her eyes in suspicion at his last statement. "So are you expecting anyone in particular that you might feel the need to shoot at?" she inquired.

Before Robin could open his mouth and speak again it was Marian that answered "we're protecting ourselves from the Evil Queen." She stated nonchalantly.

Emma felt Henry stiffen next to her and risked a glance in his direction. She tried to stop Henry from saying anything but before she could he blurted out, "she won't hurt you and anyway she can't she's under a sleeping curse and we came to ask for your help."

Emma winced at what her son had just said. Given Robin's reaction to them showing up and his previous statement she had abandoned the thought of asking him for help, and hadn't wanted to tell him about Regina's condition.

Emma turned to the duo and the look of relief and glee on his and Marian's faces at hearing what Henry had told them made her anger and her magic flare. She could feel it under her skin boiling beneath the surface.

Marian oblivious to the reactions of the mother and son in front of her sighed and smiled. "Oh what a relief. Thank you for telling us Emma, now we don't have to worry. I'm going to go tell the others." Marian gripped Robin in a tight hug and smiled brightly at Emma and Henry before turning and running in the opposite direction towards where their camp should be.

Emma and Henry stared open mouthed at Marian's statement watching as she ran off. Robin too watched until his wife went back over the hill out of sight before turning back to the two in front of him.

Once Robin turned back to them it was enough for Emma to regain some of her senses. "What the hell?" She asked.

Robin stared at her blankly, before clearing his throat. "Thank you for coming out here to tell us Sheriff. Marian has been worried since you brought her back that Regina might try and harm our family."

Henry heard the words Robin was saying but didn't understand. "We came to ask for your help to try and wake my mom up, weren't you two dating or something before. Why would you think Mom would try and hurt you?"

Robin outright laughed at Henry's statement before answering. "Yes we were dating, but that was before you brought Marian back. Why would I help Regina now?"

Henry frowned, the confusion obvious on his face. "Why wouldn't you help her?"

At that Robin lost any pretense he had of being polite. "I will never help that woman." He looked to Emma. "Marian told me what you did for her and who you saved her from. Regina is the reason I've had to live without my Marian for all these years in the first place. She told me how you rescued her from the Evil Queen's dungeon just before she was to be executed. Regina didn't even have the decency to tell me about it herself when I told her about my _late _wife."

Emma winced. "She didn't know who Marian was at the time. To Regina she was a villager who refused to give her name in order to protect her family. Regina never realized it was Marian until the other night when I brought her back, so she couldn't have told you. Besides, you knew about Regina's past and the things she'd done when you met her."

Robin's face began to mottle with anger. "I didn't know she had my wife captured and killed. For all I know she had Marian killed on purpose so we could be together," he yelled.

Emma and Henry both felt that statement like it had been a slap in the face. How could someone who claimed to care about Regina only a week ago think that? Emma's hands began to glow as her emotions and outrage on Regina's behalf started to overwhelm her. "There is no way in hell that's true, how could you even think that? Regina didn't even know you then. You didn't meet her until a year ago." She gritted out.

Henry's eyes had begun to water. He stood frozen watching the exchange between his mother and Robin Hood. How could he have ever thought that this man would be the solution?

Robin laughed at Emma's statement. "Please, she didn't tell you about that sob story of hers, of when Tinker Bell supposedly led her to her _soulmate_ with pixie dust. It led to me or so she says. She probably got rid of Marian so she could get to me. The fact that she's put herself under a sleeping curse right now is a blessing." He sneered darkly.

Emma couldn't take it anymore that was the last straw. How anyone could see Regina now and think she would do that is beyond her. Unable to contain the magic that had been simmering under the surface it lashed out at Robin throwing him back into a tree behind him and with a crash he fell to the ground before he struggled to get back up.

"You know what? I met the Evil Queen the other day and that is not who Regina is, she would never do something like what you just suggested. For one thing you're totally not worth it. She deserves so much better than you. Stay away from her and if I hear a word about you firing at another citizen, I'll be back here in a flash and will lock you up and throw away the key." Emma yelled, still trying to get her magic back under control. She pulled Henry with her and began to leave the clearing. She had to get away from here before she hurt someone.

Robin must have had a death wish because after she had just thrown him 10 feet into a tree he laughed as they turned to leave. "Don't worry Sheriff. Now that Regina's cursed we have nothing to fear so there won't be any shootings. We're safe because no one could ever love the Evil Queen and she will never wake up."

At that Henry broke and sobbed and his tears began to fall and Emma felt her control snap one more time as she quickly spun around and blasted him back into the tree again knocking him unconscious. In her opinion it was no less than he deserved right then. Still she was the Sheriff she had to make sure she hadn't killed him. She hugged Henry tight and sent him back to the car while she went to check on Robin. After ascertaining he was still breathing and wasn't in danger of dying she found Marian and his men over the hill and had them collect him.

Her hands were lit up like a neon sign and none of them dared even question what had happened to their leader. Once that was taken care of she made her way back to the cruiser and her son who from what she could see was in the passenger seat sobbing and trying desperately to stem the flow of tears on his face.

She approached the vehicle and wanted to pull Henry in for a hug and talk to him about what happened but she couldn't bring herself to actually enter the car. Her hands were still glowing and she wasn't sure she could control it yet. She needed to calm down.

Her thoughts turned to Regina and to Robin's last comment before she knocked him out. He thought that no one could ever love the Evil Queen, but Regina wasn't the Evil Queen, and she definitely deserved love and Emma somehow knew without a doubt in her heart that it was out there.

She had just started to think about how she could possibly be so sure when her thoughts were interrupted by Henry, he gently touched her forearm and dragged her from the direction her brain was headed.

She looked down at him and saw the tear tracks on his face. She also noticed that her hands had stopped glowing finally and she could feel her magic pushed back down to normal levels. She felt more in control of herself.

Bending down on one knee she cupped Henry's face and wiped the remaining tears away before pulling him into a tight hug. She pulled back and ruffled his hair. "Don't worry kid, Robin's wrong about your Mom. She's going to wake up again, I know it."

Henry only shook his head sadly and asked. "What do we do now? If Robin's not the answer where do we look from here?"

She thought about that for a minute before something Robin said came back to her. She had no idea what the hell he had been talking about at the time, so maybe that was a good place to start looking for answers.

"We're going to talk to Tinker Bell." She said before ushering him into the car and began heading towards the convent. She had some questions for that troublesome fairy and she wasn't leaving until she got some answers.

**O O O **

**A/N: I had quite a few problems with this chapter, ended up re-writing parts of it a few times. Still not entirely sure I'm completely happy with it. Let me know what you guys think. At least Robin is out of the way now. **


	9. Pixie Dust and Fairies

**Chapter 9: Pixie Dust and Fairies**

**A/N: So I almost died this morning watching Lana's interview on Good Morning America. Love her so much. She's adorable. So many feels and hopes for a SwanQueen future.**

**O O O **

Henry sat quietly in the front seat as Emma started the car and began making their way back down the trail that would lead them into town. He had finally stemmed the flow of his tears but now he faced away from her staring out the window without really seeing anything and he was so quiet that Emma began to worry.

She knew that Henry had been hoping that Robin might be the answer to waking his Mom up and now that illusion had definitely been shattered. She couldn't imagine the thoughts that might be going through Henry's mind at the moment given some of the things that he had heard Robin saying.

"Hey kid, what are you thinking about? Don't worry we'll find another way." Emma said hoping she was on the right track as to where Henry's thoughts lay.

He looked back at her sadly and offered her a grim smile. "It's not that. I know we'll keep looking." He offered before turning away again to stare out the window.

Emma didn't want to push too hard but something was obviously still bothering the kid and there was no way for her to help reassure him if he wouldn't talk to her about it. "Then what is it Henry?" she asked.

He turned to face her again briefly before staring at his hands in his lap. "It's just," he huffed before gathering his thoughts and trying again. "It's just that… I don't just want to wake her up ya know? I want her to be really happy after she wakes up. It seems like a lot of people have hurt my Mom or used her to get what they want," he stopped frowning and brow furrowing. "I've hurt my Mom before," he said softly. "I love her though, and I want her to wake up and have the happy ending she's been looking for her whole life, and I want to be able to tell her everyday how much I love her and show her that I believe in her and that no matter what anyone else says or thinks I know she's not the Evil Queen anymore."

He stopped then and Emma could feel the moisture gathering in her eyes at hearing what her son had to say about his brunette mother. She was trying not to let the tears fall but all she could think of in that moment was how much she wanted to give Regina all of the things Henry had just mentioned. If it wasn't for Regina, Henry might not be the kind, caring, compassionate and intelligent boy that he was.

The person Henry was becoming was a direct reflection of Regina's parenting skills. After witnessing some of Regina's memories of her parents or rather her mother in particular she had no idea how Regina could have raised Henry as well as she had but she did. Regina had raised her son and had given him a better life than she could have ever hoped for when she gave him up. Now she was here and she was thankful she had a place in his life, but Henry needed Regina too and Regina needed a happy ending. Emma promised herself she was going to find a way to make it happen, no matter what she had to do or how long she had to look to find it.

Henry looked up to see Emma with tears in her eyes when the lights of the car started flickering and the radio began to fade in and out. "Ma, are you ok?" he asked.

Emma looked at him and nodded just as they were pulling up outside the convent. She stopped across the street and put the car in park. Her hands had started to glow a little again so she didn't reach out for Henry no matter how much she might want to hug him right then.

"Yeah I'm fine. I'm just a little emotional still from earlier, and from hearing you talk about your Mom," she said while turning to look him in the eye. "I guess I just realized how much I have to thank her for. You are so special Henry and I am so proud of the person you are and a lot of that is due to how she raised you. Evil Queen stuff aside she's exactly what I wanted for you when I gave you up. She gave you a good life and raised you right and she loves you more than anything Henry. We both do," she said as she reached out to ruffle his hair as her hands stopped glowing.

Henry smiled at her then before taking her hand in his. "I know you both love me," he said, "now it's time for us to show my Mom how much we love her by waking her up. Come on," he said as he let go of her hand and opened his door to wait on the sidewalk for her.

She didn't even know if Henry caught what he said but she did and she couldn't help the look of confusion on her face. He had said how much _we _love her. She didn't have much time to consider what he had said though before he was knocking on the window and waving at her to hurry up.

Pushing any thoughts as to what he said aside for now she got out of the car and joined him as they walked up the sidewalk leading to the convent. Before they even reached the front steps the Blue fairy came out to greet them. "Ah Emma and Henry, what can I do for you both?"

Emma frowned at Blue and put her arm around Henry's shoulders, "Actually we're here to see Tinker Bell. Is she around?"

Blue scowled at the mention of Tinker Bell, " She is but I'm afraid she's busy at the moment. Whatever it is I'm sure I could help you instead…" She was interrupted from finishing her sentence by an accented voice from behind. "Actually I'm not. I just finished up." Tink said as she approached the duo and stood next to Blue.

"Hi Tink." Henry smiled at her causing her to smile back at him. "Hey there Henry, what can I do for you?" she asked.

Henry started to answer but Emma stopped him with a hand to his shoulder. She looked pointedly at Blue, "Actually we have some stuff we wanted to ask you about, in _private,_" she emphasized.

Blue looked offended at being asked to leave and gave Tinker Bell a glare before directing it back at Emma. "Very well, I'll leave you to it but if you need advice on anything magical, please come and get me," she said before turning and leaving in a huff.

Tinker Bell glared at her retreating form until they all saw Blue enter the convent. Emma hadn't missed the dig at Tink's magical abilities that Blue had made. "You two not getting along so well?" she asked.

Tink turned back to face mother and son before replying, "Blue and I have a contentious history. Let's just say we never really got on very well."

Emma nodded her understanding before asking, "Do you have anywhere we can sit and talk that's a little more private?"

"Sure there are some picnic tables we can sit at out back. No one is out there now so we should be left alone, unless you have somewhere more private that you'd like to go," Tink answered.

"No that'll be fine," Emma replied. Tink indicated that the two of them should follow her around the back and led them to a moderately sized back yard with some picnic tables set up before pulling up a seat at one of them while Emma and Henry seated themselves across from her.

"So what's going on that you need my help with?" Tink asked.

Henry looked at Emma to continue since she had stopped him from speaking earlier. Emma took a deep breath and studied the fairy before continuing. "We're here about Regina," she stated simply and waited to gauge Tink's reaction before continuing. She knew that Tinker Bell and Regina had some rocky history too and she wanted to try and see how this would go before she revealed everything. She didn't want a repeat of what had happened with Robin in the forest.

Tink frowned and looked between the two before asking, "What about Regina? Is she alright?"

It was that phrase that was uttered without malice that convinced Emma that they could tell Tink everything and the conversation wouldn't end with Emma throwing her across the yard like she had done with Robin.

Emma felt the tension in her shoulders ease somewhat as she continued, "Actually no," she said. "You know what happened when Hook and I went to the past right? We brought Robin Hood's wife Marian back with us."

Tink nodded. "I'm pretty sure everyone knows about that. It's been the hot gossip all around town. Is Regina not taking it well?" she asked with a look of concern.

Emma gave a small smile at the genuine care she could sense in Tinker Bell, "She put herself under a sleeping curse," she said before she launched into a detailed account of what had happened since bringing Marian back. She told her almost everything that had happened from when she followed Regina to the vault and watched her curse herself to this morning and what had just happened with Robin.

Henry had chimed in filling in details of what they had been doing so far with researching his mother's books and having Belle help them at the library to talking with Mr. Gold and getting the potion from him so that Emma could talk to his mom.

After her initial shock had worn off Tink hadn't interrupted except to ask a few questions as they revealed things to her. By the end she sat quietly not sure what to say exactly, "What do you need my help with?"

Emma smiled, glad that the fairy was seemingly willing to help. "When we went to see Robin Hood he said something about you telling Regina that he was her soul mate. We want to know the whole story."

Tink frowned, "that's actually part of the story of how I met Regina," she said. "She was married to the King at the time and she would often wish for things."

Emma frowned and looked confused. Henry though seemed to understand, "You could hear the wishes," he stated with a smile on his face.

Tink smiled at him as she noticed Emma's confused face, "Fairies can hear the wishes people make if they wish loud enough." She clarified for Emma. "Even though I could hear her wishes, Blue forbade any of us from going near her."

Emma's irises darkened in anger. "Why would she do that? What kinds of things was Regina wishing for? The death of her enemies or something?"

Tink actually laughed at that, "No nothing like that. This was before she became labeled the Evil Queen. She was angry to be sure and already studying magic with Rumplestiltskin and was well on her way to becoming the Evil Queen but she wished for things like freedom from a life she felt trapped in."

Emma's face softened into a look of sadness, as did Henry's. "What happened next?"

Tink looked at the two sympathetically, "Despite Blue's orders I couldn't just ignore her. So I went to see what all the fuss was about and caught her taking a dive off a balcony, I caught her with magic and saved her life."

Emma and Henry had identical looks of shock on their faces before Emma asked the question they were both thinking, "She tried to kill herself?"

Tinker Bell looked at the two and gave a sad smile, "If you ask her about it, she'll say she fell. Anyway after that we began talking and she told me all about how unbearable her life was and how trapped she felt. I thought that if she found love again that it would make everything better."

Emma scowled. "Wasn't she still married to the King? Even if she found love I'm pretty sure that might put a damper on their relationship."

Tinker Bell sighed. "I never considered that. I just wanted to do something to help her and I also wanted to prove to Blue that I was a good fairy. I stole some pixie dust from Blue in order to find Regina's soul mate. I went to her and we went flying and I used the dust to point out whom she should be with and we followed it to a tavern in a nearby town and it landed on a man with a lion tattoo on his right wrist. I left her there and told her to go meet her destiny. She got scared and never went in, and we argued about it, she told me I was a terrible fairy. After that Blue found out what I had done and took my wings as punishment. I didn't see Regina again until Neverland. A few weeks ago during all the commotion with the Wicked Witch we saw that Robin Hood was the man with the lion tattoo and they started seeing each other."

Emma glowered at the new information; "You said it was a man with a lion tattoo on his wrist. Did you ever see his face? That could have been anybody." Emma raised her voice.

She stood up and began pacing next to the bench, she was talking but it was clear that she was talking to herself about the situation. "You fairytale characters are all insane. All of this because a handful of dirt said 'hey you should date that guy' what the hell is wrong with you people."

Tinker Bell stood then and looked affronted, "I know that spell worked. I've never seen pixie dust fail before."

Emma stopped then and stared hard at the fairy, "In this world we don't rely on dirt to tell us who we should love. We choose for ourselves. We're not in the Enchanted Forest so Regina shouldn't be pushed towards someone because of some messed up spell that happened in a different realm over 30 years ago. There could be any number of things that could have gone wrong. I refuse to believe that that jerk Robin is Regina's only chance at waking up and a happy ending."

Tinker Bell was about to reply in anger when she stopped to think about what Emma had said and he face softened and relaxed. "You know, one of the things I've noticed in this realm is all of the wonderful freedoms you have. You have so many things that you can choose to be or do. Things _are_ different here. Maybe you're right in a way. I did that spell in a different realm a long time ago. I don't know if it's possible that something went wrong but I want to help so I'll look into it and see if I can find anything."

Emma calmed at hearing Tink's admission that things are different here. She could see the fairy truly wanted to help and that had the rest of her anger subsiding. "Thanks Tink. We'd appreciate the help. Try not to tell anyone about this if you can help it. We're trying to keep it under wraps for the most part until Henry and I can find a way to save Regina."

Tinker Bell crossed to Emma and placed a comforting hand on her arm. "Don't worry I'm sure we can come up with something. I might even be able to get my hands on some pixie dust and we could try it again. Maybe something different will happen now that we're in a different realm."

Emma grimaced at that. She didn't like the idea of using the dust at all. After all if it led to Robin the first time then she shuddered to think of whom it might lead to this time. There is no way she believed that spell worked the first time anyway, not if it thought that Robin Hood and Regina were meant to be. It had to be wrong.

"Thanks Tink, but I think we'll hold off on the dust until it's a last resort." She said to be polite. "Call me if you find out anything about the spell. Henry and I are going to head home for the evening. It's been a pretty long day."

Tinker Bell agreed to call if she discovered anything and led Emma and Henry out to the front of the house and watched as they drove away. She didn't want to say anything yet but she had noticed something curious, as she had talked with the Savior. She noticed the way Emma's eyes would flash any time someone mentioned Robin's name and she also saw how angry the blonde got at the thought of pixie dust being the reason they were together in the first place. The Savior looked jealous in her opinion.

Truth be told she had often wondered if something had gone wrong with the spell. She knew that Regina left that night because she was afraid, but in her experience in the Enchanted Forest if Robin really were her soul mate she would have almost felt compelled to be near him and probably wouldn't have been able to turn away and resist meeting him.

It had bothered her so much at the time that she had researched it endlessly before she left for Neverland. Soul mates in the other realms were drawn together by forces greater than she could imagine. For the times that it had been proven that people were indeed soul mates such as Snow White and Prince Charming, they always were drawn back to each other and they always found each other because they were compelled to.

Regina hadn't felt that way even standing so close to her supposed soul mate. She turned and walked away without a backward glance. Tink had looked up every scrap of information she could find and she had found out that things could go wrong with the pixie dust. Most notably if that person's true love didn't exist yet or were in another realm, it would lead to someone within a certain distance that they would be compatible with and could be happy with.

Before telling Emma and Henry this though she wanted to be sure. Tinker Bell went to gather her things before heading off to the Storybrooke library.

**O O O**

Emma and Henry arrived back at the mansion a short time later. After getting inside Henry went straight up the stairs to his mother's room while Emma headed straight to Regina's study and the liquor cabinet and poured herself a generous glass of Regina's cider.

So many things had happened in the last 24 hours that she was reeling. She hadn't really had time to process any of it. She had finally got to talk to Regina, Regina had almost killed her, they had seen Robin and her magic had gone out of control, and they had talked to Tinker Bell. Emma didn't even know where to begin.

One other thing that had been bothering her a bit was what Henry said about them loving Regina. She knew Henry loved her, that much was obvious, and she knew that she cared about her a lot but Henry had implied that she loved her. Did she?

She wasn't sure. Her feelings towards Regina had always been complicated and complex. They fought and pushed each other's buttons. Emma had to admit that she actually enjoyed spending time with Regina, whether they were fighting against each other or with each other it was never a dull moment.

She also thought Regina was funny in her snarky sarcastic way, and unlike the rest of this town she didn't have that infuriatingly optimistic outlook on everything. God also knows that the woman was hot. Emma had thought she was gorgeous the moment she saw her and there was always an underlying attraction there that she never really let herself dwell on. There were a few times that she thought they might actually cross that line, and then the moment would be broken or interrupted and she would push it to the back of her mind.

She downed the rest of her cider in one shot when she heard Henry coming down the stairs. She didn't have much time to continue on her thought path before Henry was practically pulling her upstairs telling her it was time for bed. When did he become the parent?

She wanted to sit up and think some more about everything but Henry was right, she was exhausted and if she didn't make it into bed soon there was a chance she would fall asleep downstairs and she couldn't do that and break her promise to Regina that she would return.

She got ready for bed quickly and took Regina's hand. She resolved to think more on all this tomorrow, right now she would just get some much needed sleep. Maybe seeing Regina and talking to her would help her straighten out her own thoughts.

Henry helped her with the potion again and kissed her and Regina goodnight before he left. She was so exhausted she only lasted a few minutes before she was out like a light again, Regina's hand clutched tightly in her own.

**O O O**

**A/N: Seems like Emma might be onto something. I've been so excited for her to go back to sleep. I can't wait for the next chapter. Loved writing Henry in this chapter too. Also I wanted to tell you guys I got an awesome promotion at work that I've been working towards and while that's great for me it also means my schedule is changing again and I'll have to figure out times to write but I'm going to do my best to keep updating at least weekly, you're my motivation so leave a review and let me know what you think. **


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